FOUNDATIONS OF PROGRAMMING

ENGI 3891

Lecture 0:
Lecture 3 :
Variables and Constants

ENGI 3891
SO FAR..
Learning Outcome.
• Abstracts and Paradigms
• Data types
• Computations and Expressions

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LECTURE 3
Variables

Constants

Sample program

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VARIABLES
• A variable is a logically named, typed, structured piece of storage

• Name allows us to refer to the stored structure

• Type allows us to know structure

• Variables can be assigned new values

• Program can manipulate them!!

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DECLARATION OF VARIABLES
C++ is a strongly-typed language and requires every variable to be
declared with its type before its first use.
This informs the compiler the size to reserve in memory for the variable
and how to interpret its value.
The syntax to declare a new variable in C++,
Data_type Variable_Name;

Eg :

int x;

REMEMBER C++ is case sensitive.

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INITIALIZATION OF VARIABLES
When the variables is declared, they have an unsettled value until they are assigned a
value for the first time. But it is possible for a variable to have a specific value from the
moment it is declared. This is called the initialization of the variable.

In C++, there are three ways to initialize variables and they are all equivalent.

The first one, known as c-like initialization

Syntax : type identifier = initial_value;

A second method, known as constructor initialization (introduced by the C++ language)

Syntax : type identifier (initial_value);

Finally, a third method, known as uniform initialization (introduced by the C++ 11),

Syntax > type identifier {initial_value};

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CONSTANT AND LITERAL
Constants are expressions with a fixed value.
A literal is a fixed, explicit value that is known at compile time
–Can be used to initialize variables
–Can be used to initialize constants
–Can be used in expressions
It may be int, char, bool, floating-point.

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SPECIAL CHARACTERS
•Some characters are not printable
•Some characters have special meaning to the language
•For these, we need escape sequences
– All start with backslash \

– Some predefined: \n newline

– Any by \x where x is a number

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SPECIAL CHARACTERS

Can use as single character:

cout << '\n'; cout << “\tHello!\n”;

Generalized escape sequence:

\12 = \014 = x0c = newline in decimal, octal, hex

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 TYPED CONSTANT EXPRESSIONS
Sometimes, it is just convenient to give a name to a constant value:

Pi = 3.14159

Task : Enter r value and calculate area of the circle

Remember A = π * r * r
PREPROCESSOR DEFINITIONS (#DEFINE)
Another mechanism to name constant values is the use of preprocessor
definitions. They have the following form:
#define identifier replacement

After this directive, any occurrence of identifier in the code is interpreted as

replacement, where replacement is any sequence of characters (until the
end of the line). This replacement is performed by the preprocessor, and
happens before the program is compiled, thus causing a sort of blind
replacement: the validity of the types or syntax involved is not checked in
any way.
WHAT NEXT
Examples :