A value is the thing itself: the number forty-two. A representation is how that thing is written down: the text "42", the digits 42, the binary 101010.
Every piece of data arriving from outside your program (a form, a file, a web request) arrives as text. Converting text into real values is one of the most common jobs in all of programming.
Text to number
PYTHON
age = int("25")
price = float("19.99")
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JAVASCRIPT
const age = Number("25");
const price = parseFloat("19.99");
Compare → Python is explicit about which kind of number you want: int for whole numbers, float for decimals. JavaScript has one number type, so Number handles both, though parseInt and parseFloat exist when you want to be specific.
EXAMPLE
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YOUR TURN
Your turn → Store two prices as text, "4" and "6", and print both the joined text and the real total.
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Syntax has to be exact. Every quote, bracket and parenthesis needs its partner, and in Python the spaces at the start of a line count. One slip and the program won't run; the message will say where.
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