Question

Are there unforeseen problems in mixing different types in a Python list? For example:

import random
data = [["name1", "long name1", 1, 2, 3],
        ["name2", "long name2", 5, 6, 7]]
name, long_name, int1, int2, int3 = random.choice(data)

I’m using this code to randomly set several related parameters within a function, but even though Python supports it, I’m wary of mixing types like this in a list. Since the list of mixed data types won’t be used for any processing besides variable assignment in and of itself (the variables it assigns to will, but not the list itself), I presume this is fine, but I want to make sure this isn’t secretly problematic code.

Answer 1

No problem, you can store any type inside a list unlike in the “olden days” when other languages had arrays that only wanted one type of data stored in them.

Since lists can also store other list, and other compound data structures, along with other object references, processing or iterating through the list may become a bit more complex due to possible multiple layers, than just going through an array in a simple single level iteration. This is also related to shallow and deep copying.

If the code processing the lists is aware of this, I can’t think of any problems due to this ability to store different things in a list.