Question

Name four Python’s basic data types. Why are they called so ?

Answer 1

Data types determine whether an object can do something, or whether it just would not make sense. Other programming languages often determine whether an operation makes sense for an object by making sure the object can never be stored somewhere where the operation will be performed on the object (this type system is called static typing). Python does not do that. Instead it stores the type of an object with the object, and checks when the operation is performed whether that operation makes sense for that object (this is called dynamic typing).

Built-in Data types Edit
Python's built-in (or standard) data types can be grouped into several classes. Sticking to the hierarchy scheme used in the official Python documentation these are numeric types, sequences, sets and mappings (and a few more not discussed further here). Some of the types are only available in certain versions of the language as noted below.

boolean: the type of the built-in values True and False. Useful in conditional expressions, and anywhere else you want to represent the truth or falsity of some condition. Mostly interchangeable with the integers 1 and 0. In fact, conditional expressions will accept values of any type, treating special ones like boolean False, integer 0 and the empty string "" as equivalent to False, and all other values as equivalent to True. But for safety’s sake, it is best to only use boolean values in these places.
Numeric types:

int: Integers; equivalent to C longs in Python 2.x, non-limited length in Python 3.x
long: Long integers of non-limited length; exists only in Python 2.x
float: Floating-Point numbers, equivalent to C doubles
complex: Complex Numbers
Sequences:

str: String; represented as a sequence of 8-bit characters in Python 2.x, but as a sequence of Unicode characters (in the range of U+0000 - U+10FFFF) in Python 3.x
bytes: a sequence of integers in the range of 0-255; only available in Python 3.x
byte array: like bytes, but mutable (see below); only available in Python 3.x
list
tuple
Sets:

set: an unordered collection of unique objects; available as a standard type since Python 2.6
frozen set: like set, but immutable (see below); available as a standard type since Python 2.6
Mappings:

dict: Python dictionaries, also called hashmaps or associative arrays, which means that an element of the list is associated with a definition, rather like a Map in Java
Some others, such as type and callables

Mutable vs Immutable Objects Edit
In general, data types in Python can be distinguished based on whether objects of the type are mutable or immutable. The content of objects of immutable types cannot be changed after they are created.