Tuples
Tuples are an immutable, ordered collection data structure found in many programming languages, used to store a fixed sequence of heterogeneous elements. They are similar to lists or arrays but cannot be modified after creation, making them useful for representing data that should not change, such as coordinates or database records. Tuples are often implemented as lightweight structures with fast access times and are commonly used for returning multiple values from functions.
Developers should learn and use tuples when they need to store data that should remain constant throughout the program, such as configuration settings, key-value pairs, or function return values, to ensure data integrity and prevent accidental modifications. They are particularly useful in functional programming paradigms, data serialization, and as keys in dictionaries or maps due to their immutability and hashability in languages like Python. Tuples also improve performance in scenarios where fixed-size collections are sufficient, avoiding the overhead of mutable structures.