Week 12: Working with text

Programs often join one piece of text to another: a greeting, a user’s name, a result line. The plus sign places two pieces side by side. The period lets you reach a property or a method of a text value. This week you practice the double quote, the period and the plus sign together.

What you will learn

You can join a text value and a variable with +. The period reaches into a value to use one of its properties or methods:

• "Hello " + name joins the text in quotes with the name stored in name. Put the space inside the quotes so it is not lost.
• name.Length gives the number of characters in name.

string name = "Sam";
Console.WriteLine("Hello " + name.ToUpper());

This week’s symbols on the US English layout:

• ": press ’ with Shift. Hold Shift with the opposite pinky (the left pinky) and press ’ with the right pinky.
• .: press the . key with the right ring finger.
• +: press = with Shift. Hold Shift with the opposite pinky (the left pinky) and press = with the right pinky.

Technique tips

• When you open a quote, close it straight away and fill in the text afterward. A quote left open in the middle of a line breaks the rest of it.
• Keep the same spacing around every plus sign so the joining pattern repeats with the same rhythm.
• After a period, type the property or method name as one unit. Words like Length and ToUpper should flow rather than come letter by letter.

Lessons

1. Learn (10 to 15 minutes): Watch the demo for the three symbols, notice which ones use Shift, and type the joining line several times.
2. Practice (10 to 15 minutes): Type this week’s text-joining lines. Keep each quote paired and each plus sign spaced the same way.
3. Review (10 to 15 minutes): Take the two-minute test. Note which symbol caused mistakes and focus on it in the next lesson.

This week’s goal

The goal this week is 21 WPM with 93 percent accuracy. Stars work like this: finish the lesson for 1 star, reach 93 percent accuracy for 2 stars, and reach 21 WPM as well for 3 stars. One missing quote changes how the rest of the line is read, so accuracy comes first.