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Python

Konrad Gołda
Konrad Gołda
735 Points

Arguments vs. Strings

Hi,

can anyone explain what is the difference between arguments and strings?

In previous video, Craig pointed that argument is everything in between parenthesis, and strings are inside of the quotation marks.

Here in this Video, when he is explaining that we can print a statement constructed from few strings inside of parenthesis ("string", "string2", "string3"). With the knowledge from previous video I would say, that we can use multiple strings inside of one argument, but he is using the therms "string" and "argument" interchangeably like one was the synonym for the another.

Can anyone explain how it is in fact? Also, why Craig actually says so and is it his manner that will interrupt me learning from this course in the future videos? Feeling quite confused - not everything is explained as for a newbie. Let me express, that for you guys who have programming in a little finger those things might have no importance, but for new learners it is a really hard brain teaser.

Can you provide a link to the video? Is it this one?

2 Answers

Chris Freeman
MOD
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,423 Points

Some terminology:

  • a function is defined with one or more parameters
  • a function is called by providing arguments
  • during execution, the function parameters are assigned to the arguments provided in the calling statement
# Given a function,
def some_func(param1, param2, param3):
    print(param1)
    print(param2)
    print(param3)

# called with three arguments:
some_func("string1", "string2", "string3")

In this case, each of the three strings is an argument of the function call.

  • param1 is assigned to "string1"
  • param2 is assigned to "string2"
  • param3 i assigned to "string3"

The arguments do not have to be strings. Depending on the code within the function, each parameter may be expecting an argument of a certain type.

Post back if you need more help! Good Luck!

Konrad Gołda
Konrad Gołda
735 Points

Thank you guys for replying. Thanks Chris for explaining.

Kris, the video I was talking about is a video "Syntax and Errors" under this link: https://teamtreehouse.com/library/syntax-and-errors somewhere arount 4th minute.