Head First Python, 3rd Edition

Chapter 6. Getting Organized: Data Structure Choices

Your code needs to put its in-memory data somewhere.

And when it comes to arranging data somewhere…in memory, your choice of which data structure to use can be critical, and is often the difference between a messy solution that works and an elegant solution that works well. In this chapter, you’ll learn about another of Python’s built-in data structures, the dictionary, which is often combined with the ubiquitous list to create complex data structures. The Coach needs an easy way to select any swimmer’s data, and when you put the Coach’s data in a dictionary, lookups are a breeze!

Yes, that’s where we’ll start.

To use the system effectively, the Coach first needs to select a single swimmer from the complete list. Then, for that selected swimmer, a second displayed list lets the Coach choose the stroke details.

So… that’s two distinct list tasks that we’ll tackle one at a time.

Get to know the data you’ll be working with

If you take a quick look at all the files in your swimdata folder, you’ll likely notice that every swimmer (regardless of age category) has a unique name. That is, there’s only one Darius, one Ruth, one Ali, and so on. This makes what you’re about to do easier than it would be if you had, for instance, a ...