Initialized variables vs named constants

Posted by Mike on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by Mike
Published on 2012-05-31T17:42:57Z Indexed on 2012/06/01 4:49 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 312

Filed under:

variables

I'm working on a fundamental programming class in college and our textbook is "programming logic and design" by joyce farrell(spelling?)

Anyhow, I'm struggling conceptually when it comes to initialized variables and named constants.

Our class is focusing on pseudo-code for the time being and not one particular language so let me illustrate what I'm talking about.

Let's say I am declaring a variable named "myVar" and the data type is numeric:

num myVar

now I want to initialize it (I don't understand this concept) starting with the number 5

num myVar = 5

how is that any different than creating a named constant?

Related posts about variables

System Expandable-String Environment Variables Can’t Reference User Environment Variables

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
Hi, I’ve run into a bit of a situation with Windows environment variables. I’ve narrowed it down to what may or may not makes sense and/or possibly be by design. It seems that expandable-string environment variables of the local machine cannot reference environment variables of the current user. For… >>> More
Local variables and instance variables

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Why is it that instance variables are initialised to default values while local variables aren't? >>> More
Arguments, local variables, and global variables coding convention in Python

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
In python, there is no way to differentiate between arguments, local variables, and global variables. The easy way to do so might be have some coding convention such as Global variables start with _ and capital letter arguments end with with _ _Gvariable = 10 def hello(x_, y_): z = x_ + y_ Is… >>> More
Arguments, local variables, and global variables in Python

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
In python, there is no way to differentiate between arguments, local variables, and global variables. The easy way to do so might be have some coding convention such as Global variables start with _ and capital letter arguments end with with _ _Global variable = 10 def hello(x_, y_): z =… >>> More
Difference between putting variables in header vs putting variables in source

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Say I declare a header file with a variable: int count; Then in the source file, I want to use count. Do I have to declare it as: extern int count Or can I just use it in my source file? All assuming that I have #include "someheader.h". Or should I just declare it in the source file? What is… >>> More

Developer IT