Answer: Python Puzzler #694

The answer is B. The program prints:

grape
What the program prints
Checked by running the program for real.

Why?

A negative position counts from the end: -1 is the last item, -2 the one before it. So -1 means item number 1 from the end.

Trace table

A trace table follows the program step by step. Here’s this one:

positionnegative positionitem
0-6carrot
1-5banana
2-4melon
3-3apple
4-2pear
5-1grape

The code again

basket = ["carrot", "banana", "melon", "apple", "pear", "grape"]
print(basket[-1])

Try it: change one number in the program and predict the new output before you run it.