[ITP - Lecture 04] Variables and Constants in C/C++

Constants, Variables & their Rules Intro to Programming
MUHAMMAD HAMMAD WASEEM 1
The alphabets, numbers and special symbols when properly combined form constants, variables
and keywords. Let us see what are ‘constants’ and ‘variables’ in C. A constant is an entity that doesn’t
change whereas a variable is an entity whose value may change during execution of a program.
In any program we typically do lots of calculations. The results of these calculations are stored in
computers memory. Like human memory the computer memory also consists of millions of cells. The
calculated values are stored in these memory cells. To make the retrieval and usage of these values easy,
these memory cells (also called memory locations) are given names. Since the value stored in each
location may change the names given to these locations are called variable names. Consider the
following example.
Here 3 is stored in a memory location and a name x is given to it. Then we are assigning a new
value 5 to the same memory location x. This would overwrite the earlier value 3, since a memory location
can hold only one value at a time.
Since the location whose name is x can hold different values at different times x is known as a
variable. As against this, 3 or 5 do not change, hence are known as constants.
Types of C Constants
C constants can be divided into two major categories:
 Primary Constants
 Secondary Constants
These constants are further categorized as:

At this stage we would restrict our discussion to only Primary Constants, namely, Integer, Real
and Character constants. Let us see the details of each of these constants. For constructing these
different types of constants certain rules have been laid down. These rules are as under:
Rules for Constructing Integer Constants
a) An integer constant must have at least one digit.
b) It must not have a decimal point.
c) It can be either positive or negative.
d) If no sign precedes an integer constant it is assumed to be positive.
e) No commas or blanks are allowed within an integer constant.
f) The allowable range for integer constants is -32768 to 32767.
Truly speaking the range of an Integer constant depends upon the compiler.
Rules for Constructing Real Constants
Real constants are often called Floating Point constants. The real constants could be written in
two forms—Fractional form and Exponential form.
Following rules must be observed while constructing real constants expressed in fractional form:
a) A real constant must have at least one digit.
b) It must have a decimal point.
c) It could be either positive or negative.
d) Default sign is positive.
e) No commas or blanks are allowed within a real constant.
Examples: +325.34 426.0 -32.76 -48.5792
The exponential form of representation of real constants is usually used if the value of the
constant is either too small or too large. It however doesn’t restrict us in any way from using exponential
form of representation for other real constants.
In exponential form of representation, the real constant is represented in two parts. The part
appearing before ‘e’ is called mantissa, whereas the part following ‘e’ is called exponent.
Following rules must be observed while constructing real constants expressed in exponential
form:
a) The mantissa part and the exponential part should be separated by a letter e.
b) The mantissa part may have a positive or negative sign.
c) Default sign of mantissa part is positive.
d) The exponent must have at least one digit, which must be a positive or negative integer. Default sign
is positive.
e) Range of real constants expressed in exponential form is -3.4e38 to 3.4e38.
Examples: +3.2e-5 4.1e8 -0.2e+3 -3.2e-5
Rules for Constructing Character Constants
a) A character constant is a single alphabet, a single digit or a single special symbol enclosed within
single inverted commas. Both the inverted commas should point to the left.
b) The maximum length of a character constant can be 1 character.
Examples: 'A' 'I' '5' '='

Types of C Variables
As we saw earlier, an entity that may vary during program execution is called a variable. Variable
names are names given to locations in memory. These locations can contain integer, real or character
constants. In any language, the types of variables that it can support depend on the types of constants
that it can handle. This is because a particular type of variable can hold only the same type of constant.
For example, an integer variable can hold only an integer constant, a real variable can hold only a real
constant and a character variable can hold only a character constant.
The rules for constructing different types of constants are different. However, for constructing
variable names of all types the same set of rules apply. These rules are given below.
Rules for Constructing Variable Names
a) A variable name is any combination of 1 to 31 alphabets, digits or underscores. Some compilers allow
variable names whose length could be up to 247 characters. Still, it would be safer to stick to the rule
of 31 characters. Do not create unnecessarily long variable names as it adds to your typing effort.
b) The first character in the variable name must be an alphabet or underscore.
c) No commas or blanks are allowed within a variable name.
d) No special symbol other than an underscore (as in gross_sal) can be used in a variable name.
Examples: si_int m_hra pop_e_89
These rules remain same for all the types of primary and secondary variables. Naturally, the
question follows... how is C able to differentiate between these variables? This is a rather simple matter.
C compiler is able to distinguish between the variable names by making it compulsory for you to declare
the type of any variable name that you wish to use in a program. This type declaration is done at the
beginning of the program. Following are the examples of type declaration statements:
Examples: int si, m_hra ;
float bassal ;
char code ;
Since, the maximum allowable length of a variable name is 31 characters, an enormous number
of variable names can be constructed using the above-mentioned rules. It is a good practice to exploit
this enormous choice in naming variables by using meaningful variable names.
Thus, if we want to calculate simple interest, it is always advisable to construct meaningful
variable names like prin, roi, noy to represent Principle, Rate of interest and Number of years
rather than using the variables a, b, c.

[ITP - Lecture 04] Variables and Constants in C/C++

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[ITP - Lecture 04] Variables and Constants in C/C++