Variables – Java Tutorial Podcast Episode 2

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Fundamentals of Programming with Java

- All programming languages share common traits
- Java in particular is an Object Oriented programming language
- Everything can be represented as an Object (think of of nouns in the English language)
- a Chair, a Desk, a Person, a User etc.

Variables

- What is a variable?
- In computer programming, a variable is a storage location and an associated symbolic name which contains some known or unknown quantity or information, a value.

- cryptic, here’s what it really means:
- Store information for later use, and store it in a way that you can reference it
- this is known as a variable name!
- variable name is just a word, a word that represent’s what you’re storing

- if you go to a website, website asks for your name, you type it in, boom that’s a variable

Variables have Types

- String – store a regular sentence (alphanumeric – numbers and letters)
- Integer – Whole numbers on (no decimals)
- Double – Number with decimals (about 16 significant figures)
- Float – Number with fewer decimal places than Double (about 8 significant figures)

Rules for Creating Variables

• Variables should start with a lower case letter
• Variables shouldn’t have spaces in their names (it’s not allowed)
• If you absolutely HAVE to simulate a space in a variable name, use an underscore (_)
• If your variable has multiple words in it, just use camel casing, for example:
• String thisIsMyVariableNameWithoutSpacesAndItUsesCamelCasing
• Note: as a rule of thumb, variable names should be no more than 4 or 5 words stuck together
• You can’t begin a variable name with a number, it has to be a letter or an underscore (_)

Your Homework

http://howtoprogramwithjava.com/programming-101-the-5-basic-concepts-of-any-programming-language/









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