Answer: Python Puzzler #713

The answer is A. The program prints:

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

Why?

Python counts list positions from 0, so position 3 is the fourth item.

Trace table

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

positionnegative positionitem
0-5melon
1-4carrot
2-3pear
3-2banana
4-1plum

The code again

basket = ["melon", "carrot", "pear", "banana", "plum"]
print(basket[3])

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