bterwijn

bterwijn

Practical Programming, Third Edition: immutable values are not necessarily unhashable (209)

On page 209 it says: “mutable values are unhashable”
However, mutability and hash-ability are separate properties. A type is hash-able when its hash function is defined. A counter example that shows a mutable list that gets hashed and added as key to a dict:

class mylist(list): # mylist (mutable) is a list with a __hash__ function

    def __hash__(self):
        hash = 0
        for i in self:
            hash ^= i
        return hash

ml= mylist()
ml.append(1)
ml.append(2)
ml.append(3)
print( ml ) # [1, 2, 3]

mydict={ ml:100, mylist([4,5,6]):200}
print( mydict ) # {[1, 2, 3]: 100, [4, 5, 6]: 200}

print( mydict[ml] ) # 100
print( mydict[mylist([4,5,6])] ) # 200
print( mylist([6,7,8]) in mydict) # False

Also a typo:
TypeError: unhashable type: ‘set’ => TypeError: unhashable type: ‘list’

First Post!

emildepp

emildepp

@jmontojo

The “TypeError: unhashable type: ‘list’” error message in Python occurs when you try to use a mutable object (such as a list) as a key in a dictionary. Since dictionaries use keys to index values, keys must be hashable objects, meaning they must be immutable (i.e. their value cannot be changed). Lists are mutable, so they cannot be used as dictionary keys. To fix the error, use an immutable object like a tuple, string, or number as the dictionary key instead.

To resolve the TypeError: unhashable type: ‘list’ error, you need to use an immutable object as a key in a dictionary instead of a mutable one like a list. For example, you can use tuples, strings, or numbers as keys, which are all hashable objects.

d = {[1, 2, 3]: "list_key"} //Using a list as a key in a dictionary
//This will raise the TypeError: unhashable type: 'list' error
d = {(1, 2, 3): "tuple_key"} //Using a tuple as a key in a dictionary
//This will work fine as tuples are hashable

Where Next?

Popular Pragmatic Bookshelf topics Top

abtin
page 20: … protoc command… I had to additionally run the following go get commands in order to be able to compile protobuf code using go...
New
swlaschin
The book has the same “Problem space/Solution space” diagram on page 18 as is on page 17. The correct Problem/Solution space diagrams ar...
New
leba0495
Hello! Thanks for the great book. I was attempting the Trie (chap 17) exercises and for number 4 the solution provided for the autocorre...
New
AndyDavis3416
@noelrappin Running the webpack dev server, I receive the following warning: ERROR in tsconfig.json TS18003: No inputs were found in c...
New
nicoatridge
Hi, I have just acquired Michael Fazio’s “Kotlin and Android Development” to learn about game programming for Android. I have a game in p...
New
jskubick
I found an issue in Chapter 7 regarding android:backgroundTint vs app:backgroundTint. How to replicate: load chapter-7 from zipfile i...
New
brunogirin
When running tox for the first time, I got the following error: ERROR: InterpreterNotFound: python3.10 I realised that I was running ...
New
jonmac
The allprojects block listed on page 245 produces the following error when syncing gradle: “org.gradle.api.GradleScriptException: A prob...
New
redconfetti
Docker-Machine became part of the Docker Toolbox, which was deprecated in 2020, long after Docker Desktop supported Docker Engine nativel...
New
New

Other popular topics Top

dasdom
No chair. I have a standing desk. This post was split into a dedicated thread from our thread about chairs :slight_smile:
New
AstonJ
Curious to know which languages and frameworks you’re all thinking about learning next :upside_down_face: Perhaps if there’s enough peop...
New
Rainer
My first contact with Erlang was about 2 years ago when I used RabbitMQ, which is written in Erlang, for my job. This made me curious and...
New
AstonJ
Biggest jackpot ever apparently! :upside_down_face: I don’t (usually) gamble/play the lottery, but working on a program to predict the...
New
PragmaticBookshelf
Build efficient applications that exploit the unique benefits of a pure functional language, learning from an engineer who uses Haskell t...
New
hilfordjames
There appears to have been an update that has changed the terminology for what has previously been known as the Taskbar Overflow - this h...
New
AstonJ
Curious what kind of results others are getting, I think actually prefer the 7B model to the 32B model, not only is it faster but the qua...
New
NewsBot
Node.js v22.14.0 has been released. Link: Release 2025-02-11, Version 22.14.0 'Jod' (LTS), @aduh95 · nodejs/node · GitHub
New
Margaret
Ask Me Anything with Mark Volkmann @mvolkmann On February 24 and 25, we are giving you a chance to ask questions of PragProg author M...
New
mindriot
Ok, well here are some thoughts and opinions on some of the ergonomic keyboards I have, I guess like mini review of each that I use enoug...
New

Sub Categories: