I really adore Python's iterable- and keyword-unpacking operators (*some_iterable, **some_mapping):

    arr = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4] 
    head, *body, tail = arr # head=0, body=[1, 2, 3], tail=4
    head, *rest = arr
    head, *_, tail = arr
    *_, tail = arr
    first, second, third, *rest = arr

    foo = {"a": 1, "b": 2, "c": 3}
    bar = {"b": 9, "x": -1}
    {**foo, **bar}  # -> {"a": 1, "b": 9, "c": 3, "x": -1}