List mutability in Python - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Understanding List Mutability in Python

📖 Scenario: Imagine you have a shopping list that you want to update as you buy items or add new ones. In Python, lists let you change their contents easily. This project will help you see how lists can be changed after you create them.

🎯 Goal: You will create a list of shopping items, add a new item, change an existing item, and then print the updated list to see how lists can be changed.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a list with exact items

Add a new item to the list

Change an existing item in the list

Print the final list

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Lists are used everywhere to keep track of things like shopping items, tasks, or contacts. Being able to change lists helps you update information easily.

💼 Career

Understanding list mutability is important for jobs that involve data handling, software development, and automation where data changes often.

1

Create the initial shopping list

Create a list called shopping_list with these exact items in order: 'milk', 'eggs', 'bread'

Python

# Create the list shopping_list with 'milk', 'eggs', 'bread'
# Your code here

Need a hint?

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

2

Add a new item to the list

Add the item 'butter' to the end of the shopping_list using the append() method

Python

shopping_list = ['milk', 'eggs', 'bread']
# Add 'butter' to shopping_list
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use shopping_list.append('butter') to add 'butter' at the end.

3

Change an existing item in the list

Change the second item in shopping_list from 'eggs' to 'organic eggs' by assigning a new value at index 1

Python

shopping_list = ['milk', 'eggs', 'bread']
shopping_list.append('butter')
# Change the second item to 'organic eggs'
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Remember, list indexes start at 0. Use shopping_list[1] to access the second item.

4

Print the updated shopping list

Print the shopping_list to show the final list with all changes

Python

shopping_list = ['milk', 'eggs', 'bread']
shopping_list.append('butter')
shopping_list[1] = 'organic eggs'
# Print the shopping_list
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use print(shopping_list) to display the list.