Variables can store different types of data, and different types will do different things.

Python has some data types built in:

• str String
• int Integer
• float Floating point number (number with a decimal)
• list Lists that can contain other data types
• dict A list of key value pairs. (key: value or "name": "John")
• bool Booleans that have either true or false
• NoneType This data type represents nothing

It's not required to know all the data types yet, but it is useful to know about.

Converting between data types

Let's say you have a string that has a number in it - "56". We can convert this string to the int data type by using the int function that is built-in to Python.

# Define our number in a string
my_string = "56"

# Convert it to a integer
my_int = int(my_string)

# Now we can do math on the integer
print(my_int + 2)

We'll get an error if we try converting 56.2 to an integer because 56.2 is not a integer. We must use the float data type instead.

my_float = float("56.2")

You can also convert a number back to a string so you can perform operations on the string by using str.

my_string = str(26) # "26"