The idea is to let you easily create more complex output, like
print("The name is %s!" % names[1])
instead
print("The name is " + names[1] + "!")
However, since you are just starting to use Python, you should immediately start learning the new string formatting syntax :
print("The name is {}!".format(names[1])
, . , ( , ):
>>> '{0}{1}{0}'.format('abra', 'cad')
'abracadabra'
>>> coord = {'latitude': '37.24N', 'longitude': '-115.81W'}
>>> 'Coordinates: {latitude}, {longitude}'.format(**coord)
'Coordinates: 37.24N, -115.81W'
>>> coord = (3, 5)
>>> 'X: {0[0]}; Y: {0[1]}'.format(coord)
'X: 3; Y: 5'
>>>
>>> "int: {0:d}; hex: {0:#x}; oct: {0:#o}; bin: {0:#b}".format(42)
'int: 42; hex: 0x2a; oct: 0o52; bin: 0b101010'
..