Why is there no tuple comprehension in Python?

You can use a generator expression:

tuple(i for i in (1, 2, 3))

but parentheses were already taken for … generator expressions.

Raymond Hettinger (one of the Python core developers) had this to say about tuples in a recent tweet:

#python tip: Generally, lists are for looping; tuples for structs. Lists are homogeneous; tuples heterogeneous. Lists for variable length.

This (to me) supports the idea that if the items in a sequence are related enough to be generated by a, well, generator, then it should be a list. Although a tuple is iterable and seems like simply a immutable list, it's really the Python equivalent of a C struct:

struct {
    int a;
    char b;
    float c;
} foo;

struct foo x = { 3, 'g', 5.9 };

becomes in Python

x = (3, 'g', 5.9)

Since Python 3.5, you can also use splat * unpacking syntax to unpack a generator expresion:

*(x for x in range(10)),

As another poster macm mentioned, the fastest way to create a tuple from a generator is tuple([generator]).

Performance Comparison

• List comprehension:

  $ python3 -m timeit "a = [i for i in range(1000)]"
  10000 loops, best of 3: 27.4 usec per loop
  

• Tuple from list comprehension:

  $ python3 -m timeit "a = tuple([i for i in range(1000)])"
  10000 loops, best of 3: 30.2 usec per loop
  

• Tuple from generator:

  $ python3 -m timeit "a = tuple(i for i in range(1000))"
  10000 loops, best of 3: 50.4 usec per loop
  

• Tuple from unpacking:

  $ python3 -m timeit "a = *(i for i in range(1000)),"
  10000 loops, best of 3: 52.7 usec per loop
  

My version of python:

$ python3 --version
Python 3.6.3

So you should always create a tuple from a list comprehension unless performance is not an issue.