Variables

Enemy 1 of 5

A variable is a name that holds a value, so your code can refer to it later instead of retyping the value every time. In Java, every variable must have an explicit type, declared right where the variable is created — this is called static typing, and it's one of the biggest differences from languages like Python or JavaScript, where a variable's type is inferred and can even change later.

Text is stored as String (capital S — it's a full type name, not a lowercase keyword like int), whole numbers are int. You write the type, then the name, then an equals sign, then the value: String name = "Ada"; Once declared with a type, that variable can never hold a different kind of value — assigning name = 36; later would be a compile error, since 36 is an int, not a String.

Once a value is stored, you use the name anywhere instead of repeating the value — same idea as every other language, just with the type spelled out up front.