IDENTIFIER, VARIABLES &
CONSTANT
TOPIC 3
USING & NAMING VARIABLES
Variables are named memory locations whose
contents can vary or differ over time
At any moment in time a variable holds just one
value
The ability of memory variables to change in value
that makes computers and programming worthwhile
Because one memory location can be used over and
over again with different values, you can write
program instructions once and used them for
thousands of separate calculations
Cont..
A variable name is also called identifier
Every computer programming language has its own
set of rules for creating identifiers
Most languages allow both letters and digits within
variable names
Some languages allow hyphens in variable names—
for example, hourly-wage
Others allow underscores, as in hourly_wage
Still others allow neither
Some languages allow dollar signs or other special
characters in variable names (hourly$); others
allow foreign alphabet characters, such as π or Ω
Cont..
Different languages put different limits on the length of variable
names
Most modern languages allow variable names to be much longer,
such as C++, C#, and Java, the length of identifiers is virtually
unlimited
Variable names in this languages usually consist of lowercase letters,
don’t allow hyphens, but do allow underscores, ex: price_of_item.
These languages are case sensitive, so HOURLYWAGE, hourlywage,
and hourlyWage are considered THREE separate variable names and
the last example, in which the new word begins with an uppercase
letter, is easier to read
Most programmers employ the format in which multiple-word variable
names begin with a lowercase letter, are run together, and each new
word within the variable name begins with an uppercase letter—
camel casing
GENERAL GUIDELINES
Variable names must be one word—no
programming language allows spaces
within a variable name
Variable names should have some
appropriate meaning—and therefore the
logic of a program is easier to follow (this is
not a rule of any programming
Legal Illegal language)
R, interestRate, Interest rate
interest_rate
Cont..
Suggested Variable Names Comments
for Employee’s Last Name
Best suggestions
employeeLastName Good—descriptive identifier
employeeLast Good—most people would
interpret Last as meaning Last
Name
empLast Good—emp is short for employee
Inferior and illegal
suggestions
emlstnam Legal—but cryptic
lastNameOfTheEmployeeInQuesti Legal—but awkward and too long
on
last name Not legal—embedded space
Employeelastname Legal—but hard to read without
Constant
Whenever possible, use named values in your programs
Example:
Using constant Without constant
TAX_RATE = 0.06 salesTax = price *0.06
salesTax = price *
TAX_RATE
PI = 3.142159 circumference = 2 *
circumference = 2 * PI * r 3.14259 *r
Benefits: = PI * r ^ 2
areaOfCircle areaOfCircle = 3.14259 * r
^ 2price is multiplied by tax rate
It is easier to know that the
instead of discount
If tax rate changes, you only make one change to the value
where TAX_RATE is defined
Helps prevent typographical errors
Cont..
Named constant: A memory location whose content is not
allowed to change during program execution.
Most programming language provide feature to declare a
variable as named constant and therefore the value will not
change during the execution of the program.
This protect the data from accidental change during program
execution.
If the values need to be changed in the future, then a
programmer would assign new values to the constants and
recompile the program code, the actual program statement
that perform the arithmetic with the values do not have to be
disturbed.
DATA TYPES
Computer deals with two basic types of data—text and
numeric
A variable’s data type describes the kind of values the
variable can hold and the types of operations that can
be performed with it
Programmers must distinguish between numeric and
string variables, because computers handle the two
types of data differently
Therefore, means are provided within the syntax rules
of computer programming languages to tell the
computer which type of data to expect
How this is done differs between languages
Cont..
For the purpose of this course assume that
each variable is one of the two broad types
Data can only be assigned from one
variable to another if the variables are the
same data type
Legal Illegal
Assume:
score = 89
grade = comment grade = score
comment = “Good”
comment = grade score = comment
grade = “A” comment = score = grade
“average” comment = 76
score = “seventy-six”
NUMERIC VARIABLES
Is one that can have mathematical operations performed on
it; it can hold digits, and usually can hold a decimal point and
a sign indicating positive or negative if you want
Some languages allow for several type of numeric data
Languages such as C++, C#, VB, and Java distinguish
between integer (whole number) numeric variables and
floating-point (fractional) numeric variables that contain a
decimal point
Thus, in some languages, the value 4 and 4.3 would be
stored in different types of numeric variables
ASSIGNING VALUES
According to the rules of algebra, a statement
calculatedAnswer = inputNumber * 2 should be
exactly equivalent to the statement inputNumber *
2 = calculatedAnswer.
That’s because in algebra, the equal sign always
represents equivalency.
In most programming languages, the equal sign
represents assignment, and calculatedAnswer =
inputNumber * 2 means “multiply inputNumber by 2
and store the result in the variable called
calculatedAnswer”
Cont..
Whatever operation is performed to the right of the equal sign
results in a value that is placed in the memory location to the
left of the equal sign.
Therefore, the incorrect statement inputNumber * 2 =
calculatedAnswer means to attempt to take the value of
calculatedAnswer and store it in a location called
inputNumber * 2, but there can’t be a location called
inputnumber * 2.
For another, a location can’t be multiplied; its contents can be
multiplied, but the location itself cannot.
The statement inputNumber * 2 = calculatedAnswer contains
a syntax error, no matter what programming language you
use; a program with such statement will not execute
Text
Most programming languages have a
separate type of variable that can hold
letters of the alphabet and other special
characters, such as punctuation marks.
Depending on the language, these
variables are called character, text, or
string variables
Examples:
lastName = “Lincoln”
Grade = “A+”
OPERATORS
One of the most important uses of a computer is its
ability to calculate.
Formally, an arithmetic expression is constructed by
using arithmetic operators and numbers
The numbers appearing in the expression are called
operands; numbers that are used to evaluate an
operator are called the operands for that operator
In programming languages, every operator follows rules
of precedence that dictate the order in which the
operations in the same statement are carried out.
Example, multiplication and division always take
precedence over addition and subtraction
Cont..
In an expression a + b * c, b and c are
multiplied producing a temporary result
before a is added to it.
The assignment operator has a very low
precedence meaning in a statement such
as d = e + f + g, the operations on the
right of the assignment operator are always
performed before the final assignment to
the variable on the left is made.
