just like how str( will return ' 'the string representation of the integer the functions list(and tuple(will return list and tuple versions of the values passed to them enter the following into the interactive shelland notice that the return value is of different data type than the value passedtuple(['cat''dog' ]('cat''dog' list(('cat''dog' )['cat''dog' list('hello'[' '' '' '' '' 'converting tuple to list is handy if you need mutable version of tuple value references as you've seenvariables "storestrings and integer values howeverthis explanation is simplification of what python is actually doing technicallyvariables are storing references to the computer memory locations where the values are stored enter the following into the interactive shellspam cheese spam spam spam cheese when you assign to the spam variableyou are actually creating the value in the computer' memory and storing reference to it in the spam variable when you copy the value in spam and assign it to the variable cheeseyou are actually copying the reference both the spam and cheese variables refer to the value in the computer' memory when you later change the value in spam to you're creating new value and storing reference to it in spam this doesn' affect the value in cheese integers are immutable values that don' changechanging the spam variable is actually making it refer to completely different value in memory but lists don' work this waybecause list values can changethat islists are mutable here is some code that will make this distinction easier to understand enter this into the interactive shellspam [ cheese spam the reference is being copiednot the list cheese[ 'hello!this changes the list value spam lists