A storage location in memory (RAM)

 Holds data/information while the program is running

 These storage locations can be referred to by their
names
Every variable has three properties:
 Name - reference to the location - cannot be changed
 Value - the information that is stored - can be changed
during program execution, hence the name “variable”
 Data Type - the type of information that can be stored -
cannot be changed
 You the programmer make up a name for the
variable
 Visual Basic associates that name with a
location in the computer's RAM
 The value currently associated with the
variable is stored in that memory location
 You simply use the name you chose when
you need to access the value
 Copy and store values entered by the user
 Perform arithmetic manipulation on values
 Test values to see if they meet a criteria
 Temporarily hold and manipulate the value of
a control property
 Hold data/information so that it can be
recalled for use at a later point in the code
Data type - Specifies type of data variable can store
 Integer variables: Long, Integer, Short, Byte
 Floating-point variables: Single, Double
 Fixed decimal point variable: Decimal
 Boolean variables: True, False
 Character variable: Char
 Text variable: String
 The Object variable
 Default data type assigned by Visual Basic
 Can store many different types of data
 Less efficient than other data types
Data type Prefix Size Values
Byte byt 1 byte positive integer value from 0 to 255
Short shr 2 byte integer from –32,768 to +32,767
Integer int 4 byte integer from +/- 2,147,483,647
Long lng 8 byte integer from +/-
9,223,372,036,854,775,807
Single sng 4 byte single-precision, floating-point number
Double dbl 8 byte double-precision, floating-point number
Decimal dec 16 byte number with up to 28 significant digits
Char chr 2 byte Any single character
Boolean bln 2 byte True or False
String str (4 byte)Text - Any number/combination of
characters
Date dtm 8 byte 8 character date: #dd/mm/yyyy#
Object obj (4 byte)An address that refers to an object
 First character must be a letter or underscore
 Must contain only letters, numbers, and
underscores (no spaces, periods, etc.)
 Can have up to 255 characters
 Cannot be a VB language keyword
 Naming Conventions
 Should be meaningful
 Follow 3 char prefix style - 1st 3 letters in lowercase
to indicate the data type
 After that, capitalize the first letter of each word
 Example: intTestScore
A variable declaration is a statement that
creates a variable in memory
Syntax: Dim VariableName As DataType
 Dim (short for Dimension) - keyword
 VariableName - name used to refer to variable
 As - keyword
 DataType - one of many possible keywords to
indicate the type of value the variable will contain
Example: Dim intLength as Integer
 A starting or initialization value may be
specified with the Dim statement
 Good practice to set an initial value unless
assigning a value prior to using the variable
 Syntax:
Dim VariableName As DataType = Value
 Just append " = value” to the Dim statement
 = 5  assigning a beginning value to the variable
 Example: Dim intLength as Integer = 5
 Variable MUST be declared prior to the code
where they are used

 Variable should be declared first in the

procedure (style convention)

 Declaring an initial value of the variable in the

declaration statement is optional
 Refer to default values (next slide)
Data type Default (Initial) value
All numeric types Zero (0)
Boolean False
Char Binary 0
String or Object Empty
Date 12:00 a.m. on January 1,
0001
 Actual value/data/information
 Similar to a variable, but can NOT change
during the execution of a program.
 Examples of Literals:
 Numeric: 5 ; 157 ; 195.38256
 String: “Paul” ; “Hello!!!” ; “Jackson, AL 36545”
 Char: ‘a’ ; ‘1’ ; ‘?’ ; ‘@’
 Boolean: True ; False
 Programs often need to use given values
 For example: decTotal *= 1.06
 Adds 6% sales tax to an order total
 Two problems with using literals for these types
of values
 The reason for multiplying decTotal by 1.06 isn’t
always obvious
 If sales tax rate changes, must find and change every
occurrence of .06 or 1.06
 Use of named constants resolves both these issues
 Can declare a variable whose value is set at
declaration and cannot be changed later:
 Syntax: Const CONST_NAME As DataType = Value
Looks like a normal declaration except:
 Const used instead of Dim
 An initialization value is required
 By convention, entire name capitalized with underscore
characters to separate words
 The objective of our code is now clearer
 Const sngSALES_TAX_RATE As Single = 1.06
 decTotal *= sngSALES_TAX_RATE
 Can change all occurrences in the code simply
by changing the initial value set in the
declaration
 If tax rate changes from 6% to 7%
 Const sngSALES_TAX_RATE As Single = 1.07
 What – Indicates the part of the program where the
variable can be used
 When – From the variable declaration until the end of
the code block (procedure, method, etc.) where it is
declared
 Variable cannot be used before it is declared
 Variable declared within a code block is only visible to
statements within that code block
▪ Called Local Variable
 Can be declared at the beginning of the class code window
(General Declarations section) and be available to all blocks
▪ Called Form Level Variable
 Variables that share the same scope cannot have the same
name (same name ok if different scope)
 What – Indicates the part of the program where the
variable exists in memory
 When – From the beginning of the code block
(procedure, method, etc.) where it is declared until
the end of that code block
 When the code block begins the space is created to hold
the local variables
▪ Memory is allocated from the operating system
 When the code block ends the local variables are destroyed
▪ Memory is given back to the operating system
 Syntax: variablename = expression
 Assigns the value of the expression to the
variable. (The variable must be on the left
and the expression on the right.)
 Example:
 intNumber1 = 4
 intNumber2 = 3 * (2 + 2)
 intNumber3 = intNumber1
 IntNumber1 = intNumber1 + 6
 A value of one data type can be assigned to a variable
of a different type
 An implicit type conversion is an attempt to automatically
convert to the receiving variable’s data type
 A widening conversion suffers no loss of data
 Converting an integer to a single
 Dim sngNumber as Single = 5
 A narrowing conversion may lose data
 Converting a decimal to an integer
 Dim intCount = 12.2 ‘intCount becomes 12
 VB provides a set of functions that perform data type
conversions
 These functions will accept a literal, variable name, or
arithmetic expression
 The following narrowing conversions require an
explicit type conversion
 Double to Single
 Single to Integer
 Long to Integer
 Boolean, Date, Object, String, and numeric types
represent different sorts of values and require
conversion functions as well
 The Val function is a more forgiving means of
performing string to numeric conversions
 Uses the form Val(string)
 If the initial characters form a numeric value,
the Val function will return that
 Otherwise, it will return a value of zero
Val Function Value Returned
 Val("34.90“) 34.9
 Val("86abc“) 86
 Val("$24.95“) 0
 Val("3,789“) 3
 Val("“) 0
 Val("x29“) 0
 Val("47%“) 47
 Val("Geraldine“) 0
 Returns a string representation of the value in
the variable calling the method
 Every VB data type has a ToString method
 Uses the form VariableName.ToString
 For example
Dim number as Integer = 123
lblNumber.text = number.ToString
 Assigns the string “123” to the text property of the
lblNumber control
 Arithmetic Operators
^ Exponential
* Multiplication
/ Floating Point Division
\ Integer Division
MOD Modulus (remainder from division)
+ Addition
– Subtraction
& String Concatenation (putting them
together)
 Examples of use:
 decTotal = decPrice + decTax
 decNetPrice = decPrice - decDiscount
 dblArea = dblLength * dblWidth
 sngAverage = sngTotal / intItems
 dblCube = dblSide ^ 3
 The backslash (\) is used as an integer division
operator
 The result is always an integer, created by
discarding any remainder from the division
 Example
 intResult = 7 \ 2 ‘result is 3
 shrHundreds = 157 \ 100 ‘result is 1
 shrTens = (157 - 157 \ 100 * 100) \ 10
‘result
is ?
 This operator can be used in place of the
backslash operator to give the remainder of a
division operation
intRemainder = 17 MOD 3 ‘result is 2
dblRemainder = 17.5 MOD 3 ‘result is 2.5

 Any attempt to use of the \ or MOD operator

to perform integer division by zero causes a
DivideByZeroException runtime error
 Concatenate: connect strings together
 Concatenation operator: the ampersand (&)
 Include a space before and after the & operator
 Numbers after & operator are converted to strings
 How to concatenate character strings
 strFName = "Bob"
 strLName = "Smith"
 strName = strFName & " “  “Bob ”
 strName = strName & strLName  “Bob Smith”

 intX = 1 intY = 2
 intResult = intX + intY
 strOutput = intX & “ + “ & intY & “ = “ & intResult  “1 + 2 = 3”
 Often need to change the value in a variable and
assign the result back to that variable
 For example: var = var – 5
 Subtracts 5 from the value stored in var

Operator Usage Equivalent to Effect

+= x += 2 x=x+2 Add to
-= x -= 5 x=x–5 Subtract from
*= x *= 10x = x * 10 Multiply by
/= x /= y x=x/y Divide by
\= x \= y x=x\y Int Divide by
&= x &= “.” x = x & “.” Concatenate
 Operator precedence tells us the order in which
operations are performed
 From highest to lowest precedence:
 Exponentiation (^)
 Multiplicative (* and /)
 Integer Division (\)
 Modulus (MOD)
 Additive (+ and -)
 Parentheses override the order of precedence
 Where precedence is the same, operations
occur from left to right
 Parenthesis
 Exponential
 Multiplication / Division
 Integer Division
 MOD
 Addition / Subtraction
 String Concatenation
 Relational Operators (< , > , >= , <= , <>)
 Logical Operators (AND, OR, NOT)
6 * 2 ^ 3 + 4 / 2 = 50
7 *4/2–6=8
5 * (4 + 3) – 15 Mod 2 = 34

 intX = 10
 intY = 5
 intResultA = intX + intY * 5 'iResultA is 35
 iResultB = (intX + intY) * 5 'iResultB is 75
 dResultA = intX - intY * 5 'dResultA is -15
 dResultB = (intX - intY) * 5 'dResultB is 25
 Redo the Calculate Gross Pay example from
Lecture 4 using variables.
 Redo the Calculator from HW2 using
variables.