List Indexing and Slicing: How to Access List Elements in Python?

Indexing and slicing in Python lists are core tools for handling sequence data. List elements can be of mixed types, and elements can be accessed or intercepted through indexing and slicing. **Indexing**: Starts from 0 (positive index) or -1 (negative index, from the end). Out-of-bounds will throw an IndexError. **Slicing**: Follows the syntax `list[start:end:step]`, where the range is left-inclusive and right-exclusive, with `step` defaulting to 1. Basic slicing like `[1:3]` retrieves elements at positions 1 and 2. Slicing with a step, e.g., `[::2]`, skips every other element. For reverse slicing, use a negative `step`, such as `[::-1]` to reverse the list. **Notes**: Slicing out of bounds does not throw an error and returns an empty list. Slicing creates a copy of the original list; modifying the slice does not affect the original list. **Summary**: Indexing is used to access individual elements, while slicing is used to extract sublists. Mastering both enables efficient data handling with lists.