VTech Precomputer Power Pad Plus User Manual

Page 43

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39

VARIABLE NAMES

CONTENTS

A

675

B

2.3434

C$

CURTIS

A$

ALPHABET SOUP

Here’s an example of storing a string variable:

10

LET A$=“ALPHABET SOUP NO 123”

You can have a numeric variable called A and a string variable called A$. The $ lets
BASIC know how to tell them apart.

NOTE: For both numeric and string variables, only the first 2 characters of the variable

names are valid. Also, they cannot resemble the name of any command.

Examples: TOTAL is interpreted as the TO command and POTATO is interpreted as variable

PO.

CONSTANTS

A constant is something that doesn’t change. The computer stores it in memory just like
a variable. However, since a constant doesn’t change it has no variable name. The number
6 is a constant; so is 4.567 or 28967.35. “QUICK BROWN FOX” is a string constant.

You can store constants to a variable. That’s usually done to start out a program; later
the contents of the variables change. Suppose we want to count to 10.

Type in this program:

New

press ENTER

10

N=0

press ENTER

20

N=N+1

press ENTER

30

PRINT N

press ENTER

40

IF N<10 THEN 20

press ENTER

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