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Blair Murphy
12,367 PointsPython pop value question from Kenneth's "Lists" video
Hello,
Another day, another question...
In the Python Collections module when Kenneth goes over "pop", at about the minute marker in the video he shows/explains how pop works in relation to the list:
names = ['Kenneth', 'Joy', 'Sam']
name_1 = names.pop()
name_1 <---will now output:
'Sam'
names <---will now output:
['Kenneth', 'Joy']
I don't understand why 'Sam' is popped. In this case, does pop pop-out the item from right to left? The next explanation of using pop with an index attached made perfect sense.
Thanks!
3 Answers
Bryan Laraway
13,366 PointsYes, if using pop() without an index, it will pop out the last item in the list. If you want even more info, check out the Python documentation here.
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,468 Pointspop() without an index removes and returns the last item in the list. From Python docs:
list.pop([i])
Remove the item at the given position in the list, and return it. If no index is specified, a.pop() removes and returns the last item in the list.
A list can sometimes be used as a "queue" where items are added to the left and removed from the right. See also collections.deque (mentioned in the same link above), a structure that adds a popleft() and a popright() method.
Blair Murphy
12,367 Pointsthanks guys! i'm being asked for a best answer and since bryan was the first to reply, it seems the most diplomatic to choose it based on that. i appreciate the help!