What are tuples in python?

Answer 1

It's like a list, but there are two differences.

You cannot change what a tuple has. So, in a list, you could say:

shopping[0] = "Eggs";
shopping[0] = "Bread";
// The value has changed

However, you can't do this with a tuple.

So, what's the benefit?

Well, tuples are quicker than lists. So, whenever you run your code, it'll take less time to do what it needs (good example is my ROT encryption on my profile).

Answer 2

Tuple is an immutable list. Thus, everything you do with lists you can do with tuples, except for assignment. Trying to assign a value to a tuple element will cause TypeError:

>>> a = (1,2,3)
>>> a[1] = 5
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<pyshell#61>", line 1, in <module>
a[1] = 5
TypeError: 'tuple' object does not support item assignment

Tuples are a bit faster than lists, so if you are not going to change its elements, tuple is a good choice. For example you can use it to store coordinates.