title: Will a Python list ever shrink? (with pop() operations)
body: <p>I have been using <code>.pop()</code> and <code>.append()</code> extensively for Leetcode-style programming problems, especially in cases where you have to accumulate palindromes, subsets, permutations, etc.</p>
  
  <p>Would I get a substantial performance gain from migrating to using a fixed size list instead? My concern is that internally the python list reallocates to a smaller internal array when I execute a bunch of pops, and then has to "allocate up" again when I append.</p>
  
  <p>I know that the amortized time complexity of append and pop is O(1), but I want to get better performance if I can.</p>