Before, we talked about how we could use variable containers even if we didn't know which values they held. When might that happen? You might wonder. Can't we always see what we're typing?
Sort of. We can always see what we're typing, but we might not be able to see what other people – say, a user of our program – type. Variable containers become especially helpful here because we've got to save the user's input somewhere.
Take a look at the code below. It might not all look familiar at first, but it should make more sense when you run it. (Click the Run button at the top of the trinket and wait for an instruction.)
raw_input("Question") is one way Python programmers can get input from their users.
The line name = raw_input("What's your name?") works like the other variable container statements we've seen before. It puts the value of the thing on the right, raw_input("What's your name?"), into the variable container on the left – in this case name.
raw_input( .. ) is called a function, which we'll talk more about later. In short, for now, functions are ways to run separate sections of code.
The string in parentheses, in this case "Question", is the text the computer will use to prompt the user. Notice how, in the Trinket above, putting "What's your name?" inside the parentheses caused the Trinket to ask you for your name.