Why puting empty string to a variable?

Question

why does it mean and why do we use it?
ex:

name = ""
while name != "zoom":
print("type your name")
name = input()
print("Thank you")

Answer 1

In your case you have to initialise your variables before you check them in if statements!

Answer 2

Answered by others...here's the error Python reports if you don't define before checking:

>>> while name != "zoom":
... pass
...
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>

NameError: name 'name' is not defined

Answer 3

@Zoom Because your code initializes the variable before first use. Mine doesn't. Empty string is because your next operation might be:

name + "another string"

If it were numeric or None, Python would throw an error and you'd have to convert, stop to initialize anyway or write a special case for first assignment (like if there's something in there already that you don't need).

In short, it's done that way because it's simpler.

Answer 4

in this case an empty variable to store the input from the user, may be

Answer 5

Its like creating a box or empty container, which you plan to store variables in it later in your coding. That is to say, anything can fill the box. i hope my explanation is clear

Answer 6

ok i get that part but how come when i run it in my computer i do not get this error...i do not get any error at all (on my pc)?

Answer 7

And also generally why do we assign empty strings to variables?

Answer 8

Ahhh ok...make sense now. Thank you very much for your explanation @Kirk Schafer