Arrays vs Other Data Structures When to Choose Arrays in DSA Python - Build Both Approaches

Arrays vs Other Data Structures: When to Choose Arrays

📖 Scenario: Imagine you are organizing a small library shelf with books. You want to keep track of the books in the order they are placed, and you want to quickly find a book by its position on the shelf.

🎯 Goal: You will create a list of books using an array (Python list), then set a limit on how many books can fit on the shelf, add books to the shelf, and finally print the list of books on the shelf.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a list called books with exactly these titles in order: 'Math', 'Science', 'History', 'Art'

Create a variable called shelf_limit and set it to 5

Add a new book 'Geography' to the books list only if the number of books is less than shelf_limit

Print the final books list

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Arrays are used to store ordered collections like playlists, shopping lists, or shelves of books where order matters and quick access by position is needed.

💼 Career

Understanding arrays helps in many programming jobs where data needs to be stored and accessed efficiently, such as software development, data analysis, and game programming.

1

Create the initial array of books

Create a list called books with these exact titles in order: 'Math', 'Science', 'History', 'Art'

DSA Python

# Create the list of books
# Your code here

Hint

Use square brackets [] to create a list and separate items with commas.

2

Set the shelf limit

Create a variable called shelf_limit and set it to 5

DSA Python

books = ['Math', 'Science', 'History', 'Art']
# Create shelf_limit variable
# Your code here

Hint

Just assign the number 5 to the variable shelf_limit.

3

Add a new book if there is space

Add the book 'Geography' to the books list only if the number of books is less than shelf_limit. Use if len(books) < shelf_limit to check.

DSA Python

books = ['Math', 'Science', 'History', 'Art']
shelf_limit = 5
# Add 'Geography' if there is space
# Your code here

Hint

Use len(books) to get the number of books and append() to add a new book.

4

Print the final list of books

Print the books list using print(books)

DSA Python

books = ['Math', 'Science', 'History', 'Art']
shelf_limit = 5
if len(books) < shelf_limit:
    books.append('Geography')
# Print the books list
# Your code here

Hint

Use print(books) to show the list of books.