3.3.1 Names and Assignment

In Section 3.2 we used variables for the first time: a and b in the example. Variables are used to store data; in simple terms they are much like variables in algebra and, as mathematically-literate students, we hope you will find the programming equivalent fairly intuitive.

Variables have names like a and b above, or x or fred or z1. Where relevant you should give your variables a descriptive name, such as firstname or height ^3.2. Variable names must start with a letter and then may consist only of alphanumeric characters (i.e. letters and numbers) and the underscore character, ``_''. There are some reserved words which you cannot use because Python uses them for other things; these are listed in Appendix B.

We assign values to variables and then, whenever we refer to a variable later in the program, Python replaces its name with the value we assigned to it. This is best illustrated by a simple example:

      >>> x = 5
      >>> print x
      5

You assign by putting the variable name on the left, followed by a single =, followed by what is to be stored. To draw an analogy, you can think of variables as named boxes. What we have done above is to label a box with an ``x'', and then put the number 5 in that box.

There are some differences between the syntax ^3.3 of Python and normal algebra which are important. Assignment statements read right to left only. x = 5 is fine, but 5 = x doesn't make sense to Python, which will report a SyntaxError. If you like, you can think of the equals sign as an arrow pointing from the number on the right, to the variable name on the left: $x \leftarrow 5$ and read the expression as ``assign 5 to x'' (or, if you prefer, as ``x becomes 5''). However, we can still do many of things you might do in algebra, like:

      >>> a = b = c = 0

Reading the above right to left we have: ``assign 0 to c, assign c to b, assign b to a''.

      >>> print a, b, c
      0 0 0

There are also statements that are alegbraically nonsense, that are perfectly sensible to Python (and indeed to most other programming languages). The most common example is incrementing a variable:

      >>> i = 2
      >>> i = i + 1
      >>> print i
      3

The second line in this example is not possible in maths, but makes sense in Python if you think of the equals as an arrow pointing from right to left. To describe the statement in words: on the right-hand side we have looked at what is in the box labelled i, added 1 to it, then stored the result back in the same box.

Footnotes

...height ^3.2: Python is named after the 1970s TV series Monty Python's Flying Circus, so variables in examples are often named after sketches in the series. Don't be suprised to see spam, lumberjack, and shrubbery if you read up on Python on the web. As this is a document written by deadly serious scientists we will avoid this convention (mostly). However, it's something to be aware of if you take your interest in Python further.
...syntax ^3.3: The syntax of a language refers to its grammar and structure: ie. the order and way in which things are written.