Programs need a way to store the data they use. Variables and constants offer various ways to represent and manipulate that data. Today yo...
Programs need a way to store the data they use. Variables and constants offer various ways to represent and manipulate that data.
Today you will learn
- How to declare and define variables and constants.
- How to assign values to variables and manipulate those values.
- How to write the value of a variable to the screen.
What Is a Variable?
In C++ a variable is a place to store information. A variable is a location in your computer's memory in which you can store a value and from which you can later retrieve that value.
Your computer's memory can be viewed as a series of cubbyholes. Each cubbyhole is one of many, many such holes all lined up. Each cubbyhole--or memory location--is numbered sequentially. These numbers are known as memory addresses. A variable reserves one or more cubbyholes in which you may store a value.
Your variable's name (for example, myVariable) is a label on one of these cubbyholes, so that you can find it easily without knowing its actual memory address.
NOTE: RAM is random access memory. When you run your program, it is loaded into RAM from the disk file. All variables are also created in RAM. When programmers talk of memory, it is usually RAM to which they are referring.
Setting Aside Memory
When you define a variable in C++, you must tell the compiler what kind of variable it is: an integer, a character, and so forth. This information tells the compiler how much room to set aside and what kind of value you want to store in your variable.
Each cubbyhole is one byte large. If the type of variable you create is two bytes in size, it needs two bytes of memory, or two cubbyholes. The type of the variable (for example, integer) tells the compiler how much memory (how many cubbyholes) to set aside for the variable.
Because computers use bits and bytes to represent values, and because memory is measured in bytes, it is important that you understand and are comfortable with these concepts.
Size of Integers
On any one computer, each variable type takes up a single, unchanging amount of room. That is, an integer might be two bytes on one machine, and four on another, but on either computer it is always the same, day in and day out.
A char variable (used to hold characters) is most often one byte long. A short integer is two bytes on most computers, a long integer is usually four bytes, and an integer (without the keyword short or long) can be two or four bytes. Listing 3.1 should help you determine the exact size of these types on your computer.
New Term: A character is a single letter, number, or symbol that takes up one byte of memory.
Read constants Section to know more about them
