39
VARIABLE NAMES
CONTENTS
A
675
B
2.3434
C$
CURTIS
A$
ALPHABET SOUP
Here’s an example of storing a string variable:
10
LET A$=“ALPHABET SOUP NO 123”
You can have a numeric variable called A and a string variable called A$. The $ lets
BASIC know how to tell them apart.
NOTE: For both numeric and string variables, only the first 2 characters of the variable
names are valid. Also, they cannot resemble the name of any command.
Examples: TOTAL is interpreted as the TO command and POTATO is interpreted as variable
PO.
CONSTANTS
A constant is something that doesn’t change. The computer stores it in memory just like
a variable. However, since a constant doesn’t change it has no variable name. The number
6 is a constant; so is 4.567 or 28967.35. “QUICK BROWN FOX” is a string constant.
You can store constants to a variable. That’s usually done to start out a program; later
the contents of the variables change. Suppose we want to count to 10.
Type in this program:
New
press
ENTER
10
N=0
press
ENTER
20
N=N+1
press
ENTER
30
PRINT N
press
ENTER
40
IF N<10 THEN 20
press
ENTER