interview_notes.md

Here's a comparison of lists and sets in Python, highlighting their key differences:

1. Order List: Ordered collection. The items maintain the order in which they are added. Set: Unordered collection. Items do not have a defined order.
2. Duplicates List: Allows duplicate values. You can have the same item multiple times. Set: Does not allow duplicates. Each item must be unique.
3. Indexing and Slicing List: Supports indexing and slicing. You can access items using their index (e.g., my_list[0]). Set: Does not support indexing or slicing since it is unordered. You cannot access items by index.
4. Mutability Both: Mutable data structures. You can add or remove items after creation.
5. Performance List: Average time complexity for membership tests (checking if an item exists) is O(n) because it may need to check each element. Set: Average time complexity for membership tests is O(1) due to the underlying hash table implementation, making it faster for lookups.
6. Methods List: Supports a wide range of methods, such as append(), insert(), remove(), sort(), and reverse(). Set: Supports set-specific methods like add(), remove(), discard(), union(), intersection(), and difference().
7. Use Cases List: Best used when you need to maintain the order of items, allow duplicates, or need to access items by their position. Set: Best used when you need to ensure uniqueness among items, perform mathematical set operations (like union or intersection), or check for membership quickly.