Test if a variable is a list or tuple

Question

In python, what\'s the best way to test if a variable contains a list or a tuple? (ie. a collection)

Is isinstance() as evil as suggested here? http://w

Answer 1

On Python 2.8 type(list) is list returns false
I would suggest comparing the type in this horrible way:

if type(a) == type([]) :
  print "variable a is a list"

(well at least on my system, using anaconda on Mac OS X Yosemite)