SNS COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

Coimbatore-35.
An Autonomous Institution
Accredited by NBA – AICTE and Accredited by NAAC – UGC with ‘A+’ Grade
Approved by AICTE, New Delhi & Affiliated to Anna University, Chennai

COURSE NAME : OBJECT ORIENTED PROGRAMMING

II YEAR/ III SEMESTER

UNIT – I INTRODUCTION

Topic: VARIABLES & CONSTANTS

Mr.M.Karthick
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
 Variables

• In programming, a variable is a container (storage area) to hold data.

• To indicate the storage area, each variable should be given a unique name (identifier).
• The general syntax for declaring a variable is
data_type variable_name;
Ex: int age;
data_type variable_name = value;
Ex: int age = 14;
  age  variable
data type int
we have assigned an integer value 14 to it.

16CS451 - OOP/Unit-I/Variables & Constants /M.Karthick, AP/CSE

 Rules for naming a variable

• A variable name can only have alphabets, numbers and the underscore _.

• A variable name cannot begin with a number.

• Variable names cannot begin with an uppercase character.

• A variable name cannot be a keyword. For example, int is a keyword that is used to denote
integers.

• A variable name can start with an underscore. However, it's not considered a good practice.

16CS451 - OOP/Unit-I/Variables & Constants /M.Karthick, AP/CSE

 Types of Variables

Based on the location of variable declaration, variables are classified into two types. They are
as follows.
• Local Variables

• Global Variables

16CS451 - OOP/Unit-I/Variables & Constants /M.Karthick, AP/CSE

Local Variables #include <iostream>
int sum()
• The variables that are declared inside
a function or a block are called local {
variables. The local variable is visible int a = 10, b = 20;
only inside the function or block in
which it is declared. cout<< "Result = " << result;
return a + b;
}
int main()
{
int result;
result = sum();
cout << "Sum = " << result << endl;
cout << a << "+" << b << "=" << sum() << endl;
return 0;
}
16CS451 - OOP/Unit-I/Variables & Constants /M.Karthick, AP/CSE
Global Variables #include <iostream>
int a = 10, b = 20;
• The variables that are declared outside
a function are called global variables. int sum()
The global variable is visible inside {
all the functions that are defined after
its declaration. cout<< "Result = " << result;
return a + b;
}
int main()
{
int result;
result = sum();
cout << "Sum = " << result << endl;
cout << a << "+" << b << "=" << sum() << endl;
return 0;
}
16CS451 - OOP/Unit-I/Variables & Constants /M.Karthick, AP/CSE
 C++ Constants

• When we do not want others to override existing variable values, we can use
the const keyword
• This will declare the variable as "constant", which means unchangeable and read-only
Example 1:
const int minutesPerHour = 60;
const float PI = 3.14;
Example 2:
const int myNum = 15;  // myNum will always be 15
myNum = 10; / / error: assignment of read-only variable 'myNum'

16CS451 - OOP/Unit-I/Variables & Constants /M.Karthick, AP/CSE

 References
1. Robert Lafore, Object Oriented Programming in-C++, Galgotia Publication, 2009.
2. Deitel & Deitel, “C++ How to program”, Prentice Hall,2005.
3. D.S.Malik, “C++ Programming”, Thomson, 2007.
4. K.R.Venugopal, Rajkumar and T.Ravishankar, “Mastering C++”, Tata McGraw Hill
Publishing Co. Ltd., New Delhi, 2006.
5. E.Balagurusamy, “Object Oriented Programming with C++”, Sixth Edition, McGraw
Hill Education ,2013.

16CS451 - OOP/Unit-I/Variables & Constants /M.Karthick, AP/CSE

16CS451 - OOP/Unit-I/Variables & Constants /M.Karthick, AP/CSE