Faster Smarter Beginning Programming

Using Variables

Variables are locations in memory to which you assign a name and a type. To declare a variable, use the Dim statement, as shown in these examples.

Dim strDescription As String
Dim intQuantity As Integer = 0
Dim booAnswer As Boolean = False

Specifying a value, as in the second and third examples, is optional. If you don’t assign a value when you declare a variable, Visual Basic .NET assigns an empty string, zero, or false, depending on the data type.

A variable name must conform to the following rules.

• It must be from one to 16383 characters in length. (Yes, this refers to the name, not to the data value.)

• It must contain only alphabetic characters, decimal digits, and underscores.

• The first character can’t be a decimal digit. In other ...