python insert vs append

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Here is the complete answer from Duncan Booth:

A list is implemented by an array of pointers to the objects it
contains.

Every time you call ‘insert(0, indx)’, all of the pointers already in
the list have to be moved up once position before the new one can be
inserted at the beginning.

When you call ‘append(indx)’ the pointers only have to be copied if
there isn’t enough space in the currently allocated block for the new
element. If there is space then there is no need to copy the existing
elements, just put the new element on the end and update the length
field. Whenever a new block does have to be allocated that particular
append will be no faster than an insert, but some extra space will be
allocated just in case you do wish to extend the list further.

If you expected insert to be faster, perhaps you thought that Python
used a linked-list implementation. It doesn’t do this, because in
practice (for most applications) a list based implementation gives
better performance.

I actually have nothing else to add.

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