Tutorial sequence
Data Structures Under the Microscope
6of 6 published
- 01Read
advanced / 34 min
How Python dictionaries actually remember
Hashes, collisions, compact entries, and the implementation choices behind Python's most important container.
- 02Read
advanced / 32 min
Lists are dynamic arrays, not generic sequences
Pointers, overallocation, shifting costs, and the choices hidden behind Python list operations.
- 03Read
advanced / 33 min
Sets: dictionaries with different tradeoffs
Hash tables for membership, uniqueness, algebra, and the costs sets deliberately trade away.
- 04Read
advanced / 35 min
Strings are Unicode storage strategies
Code points, compact representations, allocation behavior, and the boundaries where text becomes bytes.
- 05Read
advanced / 36 min
Tuples, records, and the cost of shape
Immutability, hashing, packing bytecode, shallow memory, and choosing records that communicate their shape.
- 06Read
advanced / 31 min
Deque, heap, and bisect: choosing the non-obvious container
Match queues, priorities, and sorted searches to the containers that make their dominant work cheap.