What is the difference between python lists and arrays

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Are python arrays same as lists?
Jun 7, 2019 in Python by anonymous
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2 answers to this question.

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Hi, Arrays and lists both are used to store data in Python, but they don't serve exactly the same purposes. The main difference between a list and an array is the functions that you can perform to them.  It does take an extra step to use arrays because they have to be declared while lists don't because they are part of Python's syntax, so lists are generally used more often between the two, which works fine most of the time.

So, python lists are very flexible and can hold completely heterogeneous, arbitrary data, and they can be appended to very efficiently, in amortized constant time. If you need to shrink and grow your array time-efficiently and without hassle, you can simply use lists. But they use a lot more space than arrays. While the array, on the other hand, can hold only homogeneous data, all of the same type, and so it uses only sizeof(one object) * length bytes of memory. 

For example, you can divide an array of numbers by 3, and each number in the array will be divided by 3 and the result will be printed if you request it. If you try to divide a list by 3, Python will tell you that it can't be done, and an error will be thrown.

answered Jun 9, 2019 by Abha
• 28,140 points
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Python arrays and lists have the same way of storing data but the key difference between them is that lists can store any type of data whereas arrays store single data type elements.
And because of this difference,  other than a few operations like sorting and looping,  operations performed on these data structures are different.
To create arrays in python,  you will need to import the array module. However these arrays are very generic and they are not the same as NumPy arrays.
answered Jun 11, 2019 by Nisa
• 1,090 points

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