What is a variable?

A variable in programming is a storage location paired with an associated symbolic name (an identifier), which contains some known or unknown quantity or information, a value. This means that when a variable is created, a space in memory is allocated, and the value stored in that space can be modified during the course of program execution. Variables are fundamental in computing and are used to represent data that can change or be manipulated.

Variables have different types, depending on what kind of data they are meant to hold, such as integers, floating-point numbers, characters, strings, or more complex types like arrays and objects. The type of a variable determines the size and layout of the variable’s memory, the range of values that can be stored within that memory, and the set of operations that can be applied to the variable.