Strings
Strings are very important as the quality of the string is directly involved with the quality of sound you make. Strings come in differing lengths depending on the size of your violin. so don't expect to buy a ball of string and cut it to size!
There tends to be four main type of string: Steel, Perlon (type of nylon), gut, and wound gut. Let's not worry too much about gut strings as they are for a specialised early music market and are not commonly available in the High Street. They also come with ball ends or loop ends. You can sometimes specify the type of end you want but basically a loop end is like a lasso - and fits on a single claw string adjuster which is fastened into the tailpiece. A ball end string has a little metal ball at the end of the string and fits into a double ended claw at the tail piece end. Aluminium Wittner type tail pieces have integral adjusters for all four strings so the adjuster is not removable and are only double clawed. Many violins sport four adjusters for the strings to help tuning but later on the G, D, and A string rarely have adjusters and the player tunes from the pegs. The E string always has an adjuster fitted (except instruments from the baroque period or copies of such) because the string is so tense and thin, and it would be difficult to tune with the peg.
Steel strings are the most resilient and tend not to break easily. But they can produce a hard sound and I would only recommend steel strings on a violin where tuning needs to be stable for a long period of time. Most factory violins respond well to steel strings although the subtleties are difficult to produce on these.
Wound gut are the strings I favour but they can be expensive. Pirastro Eudoxa are old favourites and I have a 1936 English violin which sounds well on these. My much older 1702 instrument sounds best with Pirastro Olive label strings but these are fabulously expensive. Pirastro is a fine manufacturer of strings and makes a wide variety at different prices although none are cheap. Chat to a player or teacher about the different characteristics and their individual favourites if at all possible.
Perlon are a good compromise both in price and quality. I used Thomastik Dominant strings for a while on my 1936 violin and they were fine. They stay well in tune and responded well to most nuances. Thomastik Infeld are a good range too, which I recommend as being great strings for the student budget.
Gut: If you are interested in the baroque movement (popular in the 1970's/1980's) you may be a purist and will not settle for anything else. I wholeheartedly recommend gut strings for purists but not as far as standard playing goes as they are not as robust and tend to fray. It is unlikely that gut strings would be accompanied by a shoulder rest and a chin rest too, nor an adjuster on the E string.