Understanding lists and dictionaries

Lists are just that – just like any kind of list, they are words or numbers listed one after another. With
computers, the lists need a reference point. Lists start with the number zero. If I had a list called
"my_list", it would be defined by "my_list = []", without the quotation marks. Or we could define it with
predefined elements – my_list = [52, 19, 32]

we can then add items to the list by saying (using this example)

my_list.append (122) The list would then contain the following four elements [52, 19, 32, 122]

So, the first item in the list is referenced by my_list [0]. The value here in this example would be 52.

my_list [1] would be 19, etc.

Compound Lists are exactly the same concept as above with only one exception – the items can
be composed of different datatypes – strings, floating-point numbers, integers, other lists, and perhaps
a dictionary. There is no difference in how you reference an item in a compound list compared to a
simple list.

my_list = [52, "a value", 32]

my_list.append (["a",3, "b"])

this would result in [52, "a value", 32, ["a",3, "b"]]

here, the fourth element of “my_list” is also another list. If we want to get the digit 3, then we would
reference this by my_number = my_list [3] [1]

You can also have a list of dictionaries. See the following when you understand dictionaries:

https://www.askpython.com/python/list/list-of-dictionaries

Dictionaries
A dictionary is different from a list in at least two ways. The indexes of a list are not visible and are
always a sequence of numbers starting with the digit zero, whereas dictionary indexes are visible. They
are the keys.
Like a list that cannot have duplicate indexes, a dictionary cannot have duplicate keys.

With a list, to find a value, you must search the list until you find the value that you are interested in.
However, with a dictionary, if you know the key, you go straight to the value. There are lots of examples
below.

Defining/creating a Dictionary

Dictionaries are defined by something like this: my_dictionary = {}, or we could define it with predefined
elements: my_dictionary= {'a' : 'something', 'd' : 'something else' }

A dictionary has a key and value. The key is on the left side of a colon, and the value is on the right. The
individual items are separated by commas.

Remember, no keys can be duplicated. If you try to add a duplicate key, the previous entry using that
same key will be thrown away.

We can add an item to the dictionary by using the following syntax:

my_dictionary[" I_am_a_key"] = "here is yet another value"

Once again, our values can be any data type,

Getting a Value from a Dictionary

With a dictionary, the way you get a value is by referencing the key:

To get the value of "something else" we would use my_dictionary ["d"]

Notice that apostrophes and double quotation marks are interchangeable if you're consistent within the
statement.

Also, notice from the project that the value of a dictionary can be a list. In fact, the value can be any data
structure, including compound lists, which contain a mixture of data types (int, float, string, etc.)

Setting a Value in a Dictionary

in addition to initializing a dictionary with multiple items when creating a dictionary, as mentioned
above, we can also add items individually. For example, when we’re looping through a list.

Direct command:

my_dictionary = {}
 my_dictionary ["compound_name"] = my_list

Or initializing a new dictionary

my_dictionary = {"compound_name": my_list}

Of course, a dictionary will usually have a lot more items than what I'm showing here.

More on Getting a Value from a Dictionary – getting an item from a “list that is a dictionary value”

Using the examples here, we could get one of the values from the list that's found in the dictionary by
doing something like:

# Initialize a list

my_list = [52, 19, 32, “Jeep”, “Toyota”]

# Initialize a dictionary with the compound list as above

my_dictionary = {"compound_name": my_list}

# So now I have a dictionary with only one item. The dictionary has a “key” of
“compound_name”,

# however, that single value of “my_list”, has 5 elements, or 5 values.

# I can now use this dictionary to pull an item from the list with the following:

A_list = my_dictionary ["compound_name"]

print (A_list [1]) # would produce an integer of 19

print (A_list [3]) # would produce the string “Jeep”

Here are a few more examples, this one using a dictionary with values that are compound list items.
_dictionary = {
"a": [2, "x", 20],
"b": [72, "y", 21],
"e": [29, "z", 20]
}

# Notice I can't use the "b" (Using " character) as a key in the following statement
# because that would interfere with the F string format.
# However, because the key is a string of "b", An apostrophe works just the same.
print(f"I'm getting my value directly {_dictionary['b'][2]}")

# the following is the same as above

My_variable = _dictionary["b"][2]
print(f"I'm getting my value a little less directly {My_variable}")

# the following is the same as above

a_1 = _dictionary["b"]
a_2 = a_1[2]
print(f"I'm getting my value a lot less directly {a_2}")

# Let's iterate through the dictionary. Rarely do this.

# Might as well just use a list instead of a dictionary.

# The Next line of code is necessary. Otherwise, the first time in the loop,
# the program will fail because My_sum is uninitialized.
# When the statement My_sum=My_sum+a_value, the My_sum on the right
# of the = is uninitialized/Unknown.
My_sum = 0
for k, v in _dictionary.items():
My_sum += v[2]
print( f"The key is {k}, the running sum is {My_sum}, Getting the string from dictionary:
{_dictionary[k][1]}" )

# Value associated with the key "e"

# This is the most common way a dictionary is used.
# Typically, you would have a dictionary loaded. Then the user would enter
# a key. For example, the student's ID number, which is the key,
# and that would give you the information found in the dictionary
# (or whatever is in the value area for that key.)
print(_dictionary["e"])
Running this program produces the following results:

I'm getting my value directly 21

I'm getting my value a little less directly 21

I'm getting my value a lot less directly 21

The key is a, the running sum is 20, Getting the string from dictionary: x

The key is b, the running sum is 41, Getting the string from dictionary: y

The key is e, the running sum is 61, Getting the string from dictionary: z

[29, 'z', 20]

You can even have a dictionary of dictionaries. See the following website for some examples:

https://linuxhint.com/python_dictionary_of_dictionaries/