Structure of a variable
From dis-Emi-A
In order to discuss operations such as assignment and parameter passing conventions it is very important that the structure of a variable is understand with a common terminology.
- Variable
- A variable is the set of a name and a value, such as {x,5}. This is nothing technical in nature, this is an abstract concept.
- Name
- A name is a specific means of refering to a variable, such as x.
- Value
- A value is actual data within some domain such as 5 in the set of Integers
- Reference
- A programming construct which provides a manner in which to locate a value. Compilers typically translate all names into references, which are usually memory pointers.
- Instance
- the storage pointed to by a reference, this contains a value. This is the actual location, and size, of storage used to remember a Value.
