how a = b works in case of list and strings

Question

https://code.sololearn.com/c6AheOkg0oEN/?ref=app
in this code even after appending list it gives True while this isn't the case with strings

Answer 1

late_1 and late_2 point to the same list, there is actually only one list that you are modifying, and that change will reflect in both variables.
If you want to make a separate copy, you can do
late_2 = late_1.copy()
or
late_2 = late_1[:]
This is a shallow copy, so it works only if there are no nested collections inside the list.

In the other case, a string is always immutable. When you do this:
s = s + 's'
You are actually creating a new string in memory, that has an extra letter. And you reassign it to the s variable, while x still points to the old string.

Answer 2

Python variable names point at objects.
late_1==late_2
causes late_1 to point at the same object as late_2. modifies the late_2 object in-place, so late_1 is affected as well.

You can see this effect by printing both the lists👇
https://code.sololearn.com/c1Y65qNV76AI/?ref=app