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Types

Types are classifications that let the computer know how a programmer intends to use a piece of data. You can just think of them as, well, types of data.

We’ve already seen one type in the last section: the integer. In this section, we’ll learn four more: the floating point number, the string, the boolean, and the list.

Enter these lines as you see them below:

>>> type(1)
<class 'int'>
>>> type(1.0)
<class 'float'>
>>> type("Hello there!")
<class 'str'>
>>> type(True)
<class 'bool'>
>>> type([1, 2, 3])
<class 'list'>

Each of these represents a different type:

Integer: 1

Integers are whole numbers.

Float: 1.0

Floats are numbers with decimals, and are treated a little differently than integers.

String: "Hello there!"

Strings are arbitrary sets of characters, such as letters and numbers. You can think of them as a way to store text.

Boolean: True and False

Boolean is a fancy term for values representing “true” and “false,” or “truthiness” and “falsiness.”

List: [1, 2, 3]

A list is an ordered collection of values. You can put any type in a list: ["rose", "daisy", "buttercup"] is also a valid list.

Don’t worry about trying to actively remember these types. We’ll be working with each in turn in the following sections.

What’s the deal with type()?

type() is a function. You can think of functions in Python in a few different ways:

1. A way of doing something in Python.
2. A way of saving some code for reuse.
3. A way of taking an input, transforming that input, and returning an output. The input goes in the parentheses ().

These are all valid ways of thinking about functions. We’ll be learning more about functions in later sections.

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