add vs update in set operations in python

Question

What is the difference between add and update operations in python if i just want to add a single value to the set.

a = set()
a.update([1]) #works
a.add(1) #         


        

Answer 1

add adds an element, update "adds" another iterable set, list or tuple, for example:

In [2]: my_set = {1,2,3}

In [3]: my_set.add(5)

In [4]: my_set
Out[4]: set([1, 2, 3, 5])

In [5]: my_set.update({6,7})

In [6]: my_set
Out[6]: set([1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7])