Types of Variables

Recall that the name of a variable describes the type of data that it contains. The last character of the name tells what type of data the memory holds:

• SUM% — holds an integer (no decimal point).
• SUM& — holds an integer that can get very big (no decimal point.)
• SUM  — holds a floating point number (has a decimal point).
• SUM# — holds a floating point number that can get very big (has a decimal point).
• SUM$ — holds a string of characters.

In the previous chapter we created an array of strings by using the statement:

DIM DAY$(1 TO 7)    ' Make an array of seven strings

This is an array of strings because the name of the array, DAY$, ends with a dollar sign.

Every data item in an array is the same type of data, so in this case the dollar sign at the end of DAY$ says that every item in the array will be a string.