Why do we use tuples, if we can use a two dimensional list?

Question

Is there a benefit to specifically reserving varied data-type pairings for tuples like such:

[(23, \"Jordan\"), (8, \"Bryant\")]

As opposed

Answer 1

"Is there a benefit to specifically reserving varied data-type pairings for tuples like such:"

Yes. The benefits to the use of tuples are related to the usage patterns around the data and any performance requirements.

Tuples are often immutable and have a predictable size.

Since you're writing a haskell program, your lists of "strings and integers" are actually a list of a union type (call it whatever you want)... your tuple is just a special case.

This point is a bit more clear if you think about this as python code. (Both strings you provide are valid python code; I originally thought the question was python related)

In python, you would prefer the List of Tuples if you knew that the tuples had a fixed (or predictable) structure.

That would let you write code like:

[ print(name) for jersey, name in list_of_tuples ]  

You would choose to use the tuple if you believed that paying for the price of an object representation wasn't worth it, and you preferred expressing every tuple reference with an unpacking.

Fortunately, since you're writing haskell, you have a number of tools to model and represent problems strongly in the type system. I think if you take a bit more time to read up and write some haskell (Learn you a Haskell for Great Good is a great book), you'll have a better understanding of the type system and you'll find the answer for this yourself.

If you're looking to learn more about functional programming in general, The Little Schemer is also spectacular.

((un)Fortunately, in python you can write code that handles both types of data structures, instead of worrying about the types going into the code. Haskell requires you to think a bit differently than that.)