Python: Input and Variables

So arise young knight and join me as we search for the Holy Grail of programming!

Variables Vary Very Vivaciously

The easiest way to describe a variable is to think of a box that holds information. You can store data in the box, you can take data out of the box and you can put different data in the box. Heck, if you don't get a programming job after reading this series, you can even live in a box.

Here is how you work with variables in Python:

#!/usr/local/bin/python

sometext = “I like to eat grits.”

some_number = 127

anothernumber = 113

totalnumbers = some_number + anothernumber

print sometext

print some_number

print totalnumbers

print some_number + anothernumber

print “some_number plus anothernumber is”, some_number + anothernumber

print sometext * 5

In the above example we create variables by assigning them a name and a value (i.e. sometext = “I like to eat grits”). We then print them out. Here is the output:

  I like to eat grits.

  127

  150

  150

  some_number plus anothernumber is 150

  I like to eat grits. I like to eat grits. I like to eat grits. I like to eat grits. I like to eat grits.

The code above should be mostly self-explanatory. The exception would be the statement: print sometext * 5. Because sometext holds a string value and not a mathematical one, the program writes the text contained in the sometext variable five times. When the * symbol is used in this manner it is known as the Repetition operator.