[] and {} vs list() and dict(), which is better?

Question

I understand that they are both essentially the same thing but in terms of style, which is the better (more Pythonic) one to use to create an empty list or dict?

Answer 1

If you are looking for the speed then there is no competition for empty lists/dicts see the code below:-

>>> from timeit import timeit 

>>> timeit("[]") 

0.040084982867934334 

>>> timeit("list()") 

0.17704233359267718 

>>> timeit("{}") 

0.033620194745424214 

>>> timeit("dict()") 

0.1821558326547077

To know more about this you can have a look at the following video tutorial:-