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Python Introducing Lists Using Lists Continental

Why can we call "continent" from the list "continents"?

During the challenge task I noticed that we can access single items from a list in a for loop, like

for continent in continents:

If your list contains an s at the end, does Python automatically assign all of the entries to that list as the same word without the s at the end? So in a list called Fruits, would every entry be accessible as Fruit when I'm doing a for loop?

1 Answer

Chris Freeman
MOD
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,454 Points

Hey Patrick Schmidt, the names are chosen for readability.

Given,

for item in group:

the group is an iterable container and item is a single item from that group. Choosing a “one of many” variable naming strategy helps readability. So there’s

  • for item in group:
  • for continent in continents:
  • for fruit in fruits:

Could also be

  • for thing in group:
  • for landmass in continents:
  • for munchable in fruits:

The key idea is the for loop variable name is to imply “singular” and the iterable group variable name is plural to imply many items. Both variables names may be chosen independently.

Post back if you need more help. Good luck!!!