VARIABLES 10

VARIABLES

LESSON - ONE In any programming language, scope refers to the

place or limit or boundaries or the part of the program
INTRODUCTION TO VARIABLES within which the variable is accessible.

What is Variable? 3. Value:

Variable is the name which we give to the memory
location which holds some data. With a variable we
can store the data, access the data and also
manipulate the data.
PS. Variable is a container where you can store a
value.
What do you store in the variable?
Each and every variable in a program holds value of
some type which can be accessed or modified during
the due flow of the program.
4. Location:

To summarize, a variable is a Where you store the variable?

 Name
 Refers to a value
 Hold some data
 Name of a memory location
Let us consider librarians, how could they store
and access ton of books? They just make catalogue
of books based on their genre with their reference
location. That is how variables also works.
Properties of a Variable
1. Type:
What type of data you store in the variable?
Each data have a type whether it is number word or
something and each variable should belong to one of
the data types. This is called the data type of the
variable.
2. Scope:
Who can access these data?
As already stated, the data is stored in memory
location. The variable is the name which we give to
that location. Each memory location has some
address associated with it.
5. Lifetime:
Till when the variable will be available?
The lifetime of a variable refers to the time period for
which the memory location associated with the
variable stores the data.
How to create a variable in Python?
In python, to create a variable we just need to specify
 Name of the variable
 Assign value to the variable
Syntax to create variable:
name_of_the_variable = value
Ex. 4.1 ( Create a variable )
>>> age = 21
 VARIABLES
How can I look for my variables?
To see your variable use print() function
Syntax to print a variable:
print(name_of_the_variable)
Ex. 4.2 ( Print a variable )
>>> print(age)
21
What is print() function?
print() is a function that can print the specified
message to your computer screen.
Syntax to print a message / text:
print(“write your message here”)
PS. Don’t worry we will discuss more about
function later in Function Chapter.
Ex. 4.3 ( Print a message / text )
>>> print(“I am John”)
I am John
What if we want to print some message along with
our variable?
PS. For sake of simplicity, from now onward v
means variable name.
Syntax to print message with a variable:
print(“write your message here ”,v)
Ex. 4.4 ( Print text along with a variable)
>>> print(“My age is ”,age)
My age is 21
EXERCISE 4.1
Create a variable "date" and store today's date then
print it?
Hint: Output will be like below
Today's date is 6
11
What if we want to submit value of a variable
outside our code like questionnaire?
In such scenario we use input() function
What is input function?
input() is a function that can accept values from a
user (you).
Syntax to submit value of a variable:
v = input(“Ask user to enter a value”)
Ex. 4.5 ( Take input from a user )
age = input(“Enter your age? ”)
print(“Your age is ”,age)
Enter your age?
19
Your age is 19
Note: We can print meaningful text messages along
with variables for better understanding.
 Text message we should keep in within
double quotes.
 Text message and variable name should be
separated by comma symbol.
EXERCISE 4.2
Create a variable "bd" and take input birth date
from user then print it?
Hint: Output will be like below
Tell me your birthdate?
6
Your birthdate is 6
Invalid cases for variables
While defining variables in python,
 Variable names should be on the left side.
 Value should be on the right side.
 Violating this will result in syntax error.
Ex. 4.6 ( Creating a variable in wrong direction )
>>> 17 = age
SyntaxError: can’t assign to literal
 VARIABLES 12

Rules for creating a variable All 33 keywords in python contain only alphabet
symbols. All of them are in lower case except True,
1. must start with letter or underscore False, and None.
Ex. 4.7 ( Creating a variable with underscore ) To see all the keywords –
>>> My_age = 23 >>> import keyword
SyntaxError: invalid syntax >>> keyword.kwlist
2. cannot start with number [‘False’, ‘None’, ‘True’, ‘and’, ‘as’,
Ex. 4.8 ( Creating a variable starts with number ) ‘assert’, ‘break’, ‘class’,
‘continue’, ‘def’, ‘del’, ‘elif’,
>>> 1dollar = 76 ‘else’, ‘except’, ‘finally’, ‘for’,
‘from’, ‘global’, ‘if’, ‘import’,
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
‘in’, ‘is’, ‘lambda’, ‘nonlocal’,
3. cannot use any special symbol ‘not’, ‘or’, ‘pass’, ‘raise’,
‘return’, ‘try’, ‘while’, ‘with’,
Ex. 4.9 ( Creating a variable with special symbol )
‘yield’]
>>> $dollar = 74
PS. You cannot use these keywords as a variable,
SyntaxError: invalid syntax else will result in error.

4. can’t use space ( instead use underscore ) Ex. 4.12 ( Creating a variable with keyword name )

Ex. 4.10 ( Creating a variable using space ) >>> class = 4

>>> My Age = 24 SyntaxError: invalid syntax

SyntaxError: invalid syntax Multiple Variables in a Single Line

5. are case sensitive We can assign multiple variables to multiple values

in a single one line. During assignment the variable
PS. Case sensitive means you can’t use lowercase name on the left hand side should be equal with the
letters in place of uppercase and vice versa. values on the right hand side. If not it results in error.
Ex. 4.11 ( Print a variable using wrong case ) Ex. 4.13 ( Assigning multiple variables)
>>> age = 21 >>> id, age, grade = 4327, 24, 9
>>> print(Age) >>> print(age, grade, id)
NameError: name 'Age' is not defined 24, 9, 4327
6. cannot be a keyword. Ex. 4.14 ( Unequal items on either side )
LESSON - TWO >>> id, age, grade = 4327, 24
KEYWORDS ValueError: not enough values to
unpack (expected 3, got 2)
What is keyword?
Ex. 4.15 ( Unequal items on either side )
Keywords are special reserved words, that have
specific meanings and purposes. >>> id, age = 4327,24,9

ValueError: too many values to unpack

(expected 2)
 VARIABLES 13

Single Value for multiple Variables print("MA of dollar in 2019:

",id(dollar))
We can assign a single value to multiple variables
simultaneously. dollar = 72

Ex. 4.16 ( Assign single value to multiple variables) print("In 2020, $1 = ",dollar)

>>> id = age = grade = 10 print("MA of dollar in 2020:

",id(dollar))
>>> print(id, age, grade)
In 2019, $1 = 69
10, 10, 10 MA of dollar in 2019: 342545564567
LESSON - THREE In 2020, $1 = 72
MA of dollar in 2020: 342545564586
VARIABLE OPERATIONS
What if we want to delete a variable (remove from
What if we want to know memory location of a memory)?
variable?
❸ Deleting
❶ Memory Location of a variable
you can delete a variable using the syntax below:
you can get Memory location of a variable using the
syntax below: del v

id(variable_name) Ex. 4.19 ( Deleting a variable )

PS. For sake of simplicity, from now onward MA >>> book = 5

means Memory Address of a variable. >>> del book
Ex. 4.17 ( Get Memory Location of a variable ) >>> print(book)
dollar = 69 NameError: name 'a' is not defined
print(“1$ = ”,dollar)
Finally, What about Constants?
print(“MA of dollar:”,id(dollar))
A constant is a type of variable whose value cannot
1$ = 69 be changed. It is helpful to think of constants as
containers that hold information which cannot be
MA of dollar: 342545564567 changed later.

What if we want to change value of a variable? Example – GRAVITY = 9.81

❷ Reassigning PS. We will discuss more about constants in later

Module Chapter.
you can update / reassign value of a variable using
the syntax below: EXERCISE 4.3

v = new_value Create a variable "ap" and accept "apple price"

PS. While variable is reassigning, its memory
location also changed.
Ex. 4.18 ( Updating the value of variable )
dollar = 69
print("In 2019, $1 = ",dollar)
from user, then print user’s apple price “ap” and its
memory location, then next reassign apple price to
34, again print apple price and its memory
location, finally delete variable "ap"?
Hint: Final Output will be like below
NameError: name 'ap' is not defined