Hey future coders! Today we’re going to explore some of the most important concepts in programming that will help you build amazing games, apps, and more. Let’s dive into the world of variables, inputs, prints, data types, and how to convert between them!

What Are Variables? Think Digital Containers! 🗃️

Imagine you have a box where you can store things. In programming, that box is called a variable. You can put numbers, text, or other information in these boxes and give them names so you can use them later.

How to create variables:

python# Creating variables in Python
player_name = "Alex"
player_score = 100
game_level = 5
is_game_over = False

Variables are super useful because you can change what’s inside them as your program runs!

Getting User Input: Making Your Programs Interactive! 💬

What makes programs fun is that they can respond to what we tell them. We use input to get information from users.

python# Getting input from users
name = input("What's your name? ")
print("Hello, " + name + "!")

age = input("How old are you? ")
print("Wow! You are " + age + " years old!")

When this program runs, it will ask you questions and then use your answers!

Prints: Making Your Computer Talk Back! 🗣️

How does your program show you information? With print statements! These display text, numbers, or variable values on your screen.

python# Different ways to use print
print("Welcome to my awesome game!")
print("Your score is:", 250)

player = "Sam"
level = 3
print(player, "is on level", level)

# Using f-strings (formatted strings) in Python
print(f"{player} has reached level {level}!")

Data Types: Different Flavors of Information 🍦

Just like ice cream comes in different flavors, information in programming comes in different data types:

1. Integers (int) – Whole numbers: 42, -7, 1000
2. Floating-point numbers (float) – Numbers with decimals: 3.14, 2.5, -0.5
3. Strings (str) – Text: "Hello", "Python is fun!"
4. Booleans (bool) – True or False values: True, False
5. Lists – Collections of items: [1, 2, 3], ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

python# Examples of different data types
my_age = 14                          # Integer
my_height = 5.7                      # Float
my_name = "Taylor"                   # String
is_sunny = True                      # Boolean
favorite_games = ["Minecraft", "Roblox", "Fortnite"]  # List

Data Type Conversion: Transforming Information! 🧙‍♂️

Sometimes you need to change one type of data into another. This is called type conversion or type casting.

python# Converting strings to numbers
user_input = input("Enter a number: ")  # This gives us a string
number = int(user_input)                # Convert to integer
print("Your number plus 10 is:", number + 10)

# Converting numbers to strings
age = 14
print("I am " + str(age) + " years old")

# Converting between number types
price = 9.99              # Float
whole_dollars = int(price)  # Convert to integer (becomes 9)
print("That costs about", whole_dollars, "dollars")

# Converting to boolean
number = 0
has_value = bool(number)  # Becomes False (0 converts to False)
print("Has value:", has_value)

number = 42
has_value = bool(number)  # Becomes True (non-zero numbers convert to True)
print("Has value:", has_value)

Why This All Matters 🚀

Understanding these concepts is like having the right tools in your toolbox! When you know about variables, inputs, prints, data types, and type conversion, you can:

• Store and track information in your games or apps
• Let users interact with your programs
• Display information in a user-friendly way
• Work with different kinds of data
• Convert between data types when needed

These are the building blocks that help you create almost any program you can imagine!

Try It Yourself! 💻

Now that you understand the basics, why not try creating a simple program that:

1. Asks for a user’s name and age
2. Calculates what year they were born
3. Tells them how old they’ll be in 5 years

Think about which data types you’ll need to use and when you’ll need to convert between them!

Happy coding, future developers! 🎮👩‍💻👨‍💻

1. Variables

What is it? Variables are like containers where you store your toys (or data). You give the container a name, and put something inside it.

Example:

age = 12
name = "Ria"

Challenges:

1. Create a variable name and store your name.
2. Store your age in a variable age.
3. Create school variable and store your school name.
4. Change the value of age to a new number.
5. Make variables for your favorite color, food, and subject.
6. Swap values of two variables a = 10, b = 20.
7. Add two number variables and store result in a third.
8. Store result of a * b in variable c.
9. Combine name and school into a single sentence.
10. Store height = 4.5 and unit = "feet", then print them nicely.

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2. Input

What is it? Input lets the computer talk to YOU! It asks for your answer and stores it in a variable.

Example:

name = input("What is your name? ")

Challenges:

1. Ask the user their name and store it.
2. Ask for their favorite game.
3. Ask for their birth year and store it.
4. Ask for two numbers and print them.
5. Ask for your city and print a welcome message.
6. Ask for age and print how old you’ll be next year.
7. Ask for two numbers and print their sum.
8. Ask for name and favorite animal. Print “{name} loves {animal}”.
9. Ask for three inputs and print them in one line.
10. Ask for number of candies and print half of it.

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3. Data Types & Type Conversion

What is it? Different types of data: words (str), numbers (int, float), True/False (bool). Sometimes you have to convert them!

Example:

age = int(input("Enter age: "))

Challenges:

1. Print type of 5, 3.5, “hello”.
2. Convert “10” to int.
3. Convert 3.5 to int.
4. Convert 7 to float.
5. Convert True to string.
6. Take input of number and add 10 (hint: convert input).
7. Find type of user input using type().
8. Try converting “hello” to int (see what happens!).
9. Input two strings, convert to numbers and multiply.
10. Convert float to int, int to string, and string to float.

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4. Print Statement

What is it? The print() function tells Python to say something out loud!

Example:

print("Hello, World!")

Challenges:

1. Print your name.
2. Print your age.
3. Print “I love Python”.
4. Print two messages in one line.
5. Print name and age in one line.
6. Use commas in print() to join words.
7. Use + to join strings.
8. Print a multi-line quote.
9. Print a sentence using variables.
10. Use sep and end in print creatively.

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