Python 3.3 Syntax question

So i am 15 and have decided to learn python. I have found a good tutorial which covers almost everything. I do have some questions that i deem important to know.

1. When creating this function how does "Fred" become the name since i see no name = "fred"

Input:
def print_welcome(name):
print("welcome", name)

print_welcome("fred")

Output:
welcome fred


2. I have heard that you should not use white-space in python. Where can i use white-space and where can i not. I do not want to make any bad habits

1. The first (and only) parameter of the function is called "name". When you call the function with the argument "fred", that value is bound to the name "name" in the function's scope. Note, however, that you can explicitly call print_welcome(name="fred") instead, with the same result.

2. I'm not sure exactly what was meant here. Perhaps what whoever said this was trying to communicate is that whitespace (specifically indentation) is significant in Python.

And since white space significantly denotes blocks of statements, you must post python code in these forums within [code] tags. Please read and follow the link at my signature for more information.

This might explain the value of a function better: