What is the time complexity of the pop operation on a Python list?
Understand the Problem
The question is inquiring about the time complexity of the 'pop' operation on a list in Python. This involves understanding how this operation works and its efficiency depending on whether an item is removed from the end or from the beginning of the list.
Answer
O(1) for last element, O(n) for arbitrary element.
The final answer is O(1) for popping the last element and O(n) for popping an arbitrary element.
Answer for screen readers
The final answer is O(1) for popping the last element and O(n) for popping an arbitrary element.
More Information
The Python list pop() method's time complexity varies by the position of the element being popped. Popping the last element is an efficient O(1) operation, but popping from an arbitrary position requires shifting elements, resulting in an O(n) time complexity.
Tips
To achieve more efficient pop operations from the front of a collection, consider using a deque from the collections module, which provides O(1) time complexity for popping elements from both ends.
Sources
- What is the time complexity of popping elements from list in Python? - stackoverflow.com
- Python - Remove rear element from list - GeeksforGeeks - geeksforgeeks.org
- Python List pop() Method - GeeksforGeeks - geeksforgeeks.org
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