Flash cards
Review the key moves
What is the main idea behind JavaScript Variables?
Lesson checks
Practice each idea before moving on
Short Mimo-style checks built from this lesson's code, terms, and sequence.
Which statement best captures the main point of this lesson?
Complete the missing token from the example code.
___ z = x + y;Put the learning moves in the order that makes the concept easiest to apply.
Variables = Data Containers
JavaScript variables are containers for data.
JavaScript variables can be declared in 4 ways:
Modern JavaScript
- Using let
- Using const
Older JavaScript
- Using var (Not Recommended)
- Automatically (Not Recommended)
Example using let
let x = 5;
let y = 6;
let z = x + y;Example using const
const x = 5;
const y = 6;
const z = x + y;From the examples you can guess
- x contains (or stores) the value 5
- y contains (or stores) the value 6
- z contains (or stores) the value 11
Variables are labels for data values.
Variables are containers for storing data.
JavaScript Identifiers
Variables are identified with unique names called identifiers .
Names can be short like x, y, z.
Names can be descriptive age, sum, carName.
The rules for constructing names (identifiers) are:
- Names can contain letters, digits, underscores, and dollar signs.
- Names must begin with a letter, a $ sign or an underscore (_).
- Names are case sensitive (X is different from x).
- Reserved words (JavaScript keywords) cannot be used as names.
Numbers are not allowed as the first character in names.
This way JavaScript can easily distinguish identifiers from numbers.
JavaScript Underscore (_)
JavaScript treats underscore as a letter.
Identifiers containing _ are valid variable names:
Example
let _lastName = "Johnson";
let _x = 2;
let _100 = 5;A convention among professional programmers is to start a name with underscore for "private" variables.
JavaScript Dollar Sign $
JavaScript also treats a dollar sign as a letter.
Identifiers containing $ are valid variable names:
let $ = "Hello World";
let $$$ = 2;
let $myMoney = 5;Using the $ is not very common in JavaScript, but professional programmers often use it as an alias for the main function in JavaScript libraries.
Declaring JavaScript Variables
Creating a variable in JavaScript is called declaring a variable.
You declare a JavaScript variable with the let keyword or the const keyword.
Declaring a Variable Using let
let carName;After the declaration, the variable has no value (technically it is undefined ).
To assign a value to the variable, use the equal sign:
carName = "Volvo";Most often you will assign a value to the variable when you declare it:
Example
let carName = "Volvo";Declaring a Variable Using const
Always use const if the value should not be changed
const carName = "Volvo";A Mixed Example
const price1 = 5;
const price2 = 6;
let total = price1 + price2;The two variables price1 and price2 are declared with the const keyword.
The values of price1 and price2 cannot be changed.
The variable total is declared with the let keyword.
The value of total can be changed.
Declaring a Variable Automatically
Undeclared variables are automatically declared when first used:
x = 5;
y = 6;
z = x + y;It's a good programming practice to declare all variables at the beginning of a script.
Declaring a Variable Using var
The var keyword was used in all JavaScript code before 2015.
The let and const keywords were new to JavaScript in 2015.
Using var ( Not Recommended)
var x = 5;
var y = 6;
var z = x + y;When to Use var, let, or const?
- Always declare variables
- Always use const if the value should not be changed
- Always use const if the type should not be changed (Arrays and Objects)
- Only use let if you cannot use const
- Never use var if you can use let or const.
JavaScript Data Types
JavaScript variables can hold 8 datatypes , but for now, just think of numbers and strings .
Strings are text written inside quotes .
Numbers are written without quotes .
If you put a number in quotes, it will be treated as a text string.
Example
const pi = 3.14;
let person = "John Doe";
let answer = 'Yes I am!';One Statement, Many Variables
You can declare many variables in one statement.
Start the statement with let or const and separate the variables by comma :
Example
let person = "John Doe", carName = "Volvo", price = 200;Example
let person = "John Doe", carName = "Volvo", price = 200;The Assignment Operator
In JavaScript, the equal sign ( = ) is an assignment operator, not an equal to operator.
This is different from algebra. The following does not make sense in algebra:
x = x + 5In JavaScript, however, it makes perfect sense: it assigns the value of x + 5 to x.
(It calculates the value of x + 5 and puts the result into x. The value of x is incremented by 5.)
The equal to operator is written like == in JavaScript.
JavaScript Arithmetic
As with algebra, you can do arithmetic with JavaScript variables, using operators like = and + :
Example
let x = 5 + 2 + 3;You can also add strings, but strings will be concatenated:
Example
let x = "John" + " " + "Doe";If you put a number in quotes, the rest of the numbers will be treated as strings, and concatenated.
Examples
let x = "5" + 2 + 3;