choice=0 ??

So this is from a tutorial in python:

Code: [Select]

#calculator program

#this variable tells the loop whether it should loop or not.
# 1 means loop. anything else means don't loop.

loop = 1

#this variable holds the user's choice in the menu:

choice = 0

while loop == 1:
    #print what options you have
    print "Welcome to calculator.py"

    print "your options are:"
    print " "
    print "1) Addition"
    print "2) Subtraction"

    print "3) Multiplication"

    print "4) Division"
    print "5) Quit calculator.py"
    print " "

    choice = input("Choose your option: ")
    if choice == 1:
        add1 = input("Add this: ")
        add2 = input("to this: ")
        print add1, "+", add2, "=", add1 + add2
    elif choice == 2:
        sub2 = input("Subtract this: ")
        sub1 = input("from this: ")
        print sub1, "-", sub2, "=", sub1 - sub2
    elif choice == 3:
        mul1 = input("Multiply this: ")
        mul2 = input("with this: ")
        print mul1, "*", mul2, "=", mul1 * mul2
    elif choice == 4:
        div1 = input("Divide this: ")
        div2 = input("by this: ")
        print div1, "/", div2, "=", div1 / div2
    elif choice == 5:
        loop = 0

print "Thankyou for using calculator.py!"

What does "choice=0" do, I know it says to hold the users choice in the menu, but when i get rid of it, the calculator still works the same. So what does it mean by holding the users choice?

no, choice=0 is not needed, since in the while loop , it will have a value somehow

the writer of the tutorial is probably used to languages that don't initialize variables on first use. Basically they are initializing the variable, but python already does that so it's redundant.

Okay.