Variables A variable is a placeholder for a value. It is a named memory location where that value is stored. Use the name of a variable to access or update the value. View memory as a numbered sequence of bytes, where the number is the address of each byte. Later, we'll see how you can access the value through its address.

Variables The syntax for declaring a variable is: data_type variable_name ; or, for several variables of the same type: data_type variable_name1, variable_name2 ; Variables may be declared at any point in the program, but they must always be declared before they are used. The name of a variable is a sequence of letters, digits and underscores that does not begin with a digit. C++ is case sensitive

Readability Pick meaningful variable names that describe the entity they refer to. Things to avoid: the letter l (el) which can be confused with the digit 1 (one) single-letter variables (there's one exception) variable names starting with one or two underscores (many internal C++ names follow this convention) extremely long names names similar to C++ reserved or predefined words names similar to one another

Basic types int for signed integers (4 bytes*) range: -231..+231 unsigned int for unsigned integers (4 bytes*) range: 0..+232 float and double for single- and double-precision floating point numbers (4 and 8 bytes respectively) range: ± ~10-44.85 to ~1038.53 for floats range: ± ~10-323.3 to ~10308.3 for doubles char for characters (1 byte) range: -128..+127 but ASCII uses only 0..127 bool for boolean values (1 byte) range: 0-1 * for our architecture

Literals integer literal double literal string literals #include<iostream> using namespace std; int main () { cout << 10 << "USD = " << 8.2 << "EUR\n"; return 0; } integer literal double literal string literals

Literals Major disadvantages: Good idea: Look ma, no semicolon! a literal cannot be reused (you have to type it in every time) it is easy to make a typo if you want to change it, you have to make sure you change all of its occurrences inside the program. Good idea: Use #define (C++ preprocessor directive) to define a literal Look ma, no semicolon! #define NUM_DOLLARS 10 #include<iostream> using namespace std; int main () { cout << NUM_DOLLARS; return 0; }

#defined constants Location: with other directives (e.g. #include) Syntax: #define UNIQUE_NAME some_value Before compiling, pre-processor does 'find & replace' on your file: every occurrence of UNIQUE_NAME is replaced by some_value. Convention: UNIQUE_NAME is always in UPPERCASE. Major advantages: One single, central location for fixed values prevents scattered, hard-to-find errors in literals makes it easy to modify the value Works for ANY repeated text, not just numbers string literals, even executable text statements…

named constants Declared like variables BUT preceded with the keyword const initialized at declaration their value CANNOT change afterwards. #include<iostream> using namespace std; int main () { const int num_dollars = 10; cout << num_dollars; // num_dollars = 20; ILLEGAL! return 0; }

Operators Assignment operator: = Arithmetic operators: +, , *, /, % Relational operators: <, >, <=, >=, ==, != Logical operators: &&, ||, !

Operators ( ) ! Unary – * / % higher precedence + – * / % + – < <= >= > = = != && || = higher precedence lower precedence Associativity: left-to-right (except = and unary operators)