Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 24 Hours, Third Edition

Defining a Variable

You create, or define, a variable by stating its type, followed by one or more spaces, followed by the variable name and a semicolon. The variable name can be virtually any combination of letters, but cannot contain spaces. Legal variable names include x, J23qrsnf, and myAge. Good variable names tell you what the variables are for; using good names makes it easier to understand the flow of your program. The following statement defines an integer variable called myAge:

int myAge;

Remember that C++ is case sensitive, so myAge is a different variable name from MyAge. As a general programming practice, try to use names that tell you what the variable is for. Names such as myAge or howMany are much easier to understand and remember ...