On 26/05/2013, Jim Mooney <cybervigila...@gmail.com> wrote: > I thought tuples were immutable but it seems you can swap them, so I'm > confused: > > a,b = 5,8
I think your confusion might arise from not understanding that the meaning of the comma differs depending on whether it is on the left or the right side of an equals sign. On the right: it combines the 5 and the 8 to create a tuple, as yet un-named. On the left: it says to unpack the tuple-on-the-right into two independent values and assign them to the names a and b. So here it is effectively a=5 and b=8. So, there is no tuple on the left hand side. The statement does not create a tuple, because the comma on the left side means "unpack the tuple-on-the-right". To assign a name to a tuple, there must be no comma on the left side, like this: name_of_tuple = 5, 8 _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
