CIS 115 Lecture 5

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 typePrefix Size Values
Byte byt 1 bytepositive integer value from 0 to 255
Short shr 2 byteinteger from 32,768 to +32,767
Integer int 4 byteinteger from +/- 2,147,483,647
Long lng 8 byteinteger 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)

Declaringan 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
Twoproblems with using literals for
these types of values
The reason for multiplying decTotal by 1.06
isnt 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
 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 variables
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 ?
 Thisoperator 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 *= 10 x= 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 *4/26=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.
 Homework 3
Visual Basic - Variables
See handout for details and due date
Questions?