I think it's really important to understand why tuples can't be modified and lists can. If you explain it away with something factually incorrect about pass-by-reference, your doing a real disservice to whomever you are teaching.
After all, the issue here has nothing to do with parameter passing and everything to do with object design. It's important to understand that tuples are truly immutable and what the implications of that is.
Misuse of tuples and lists are one of the biggest problems I see in novice (and often not so novice) python code. How often do you see someone copying tuples (often inadvertently) when list semantics are far more efficient? That stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of immutability, something that might stem from not understanding how parameters are truly passed in the language.
After all, the issue here has nothing to do with parameter passing and everything to do with object design. It's important to understand that tuples are truly immutable and what the implications of that is.
Misuse of tuples and lists are one of the biggest problems I see in novice (and often not so novice) python code. How often do you see someone copying tuples (often inadvertently) when list semantics are far more efficient? That stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of immutability, something that might stem from not understanding how parameters are truly passed in the language.