Variables in JavaScript

Notes from April 6, 2005 class

A Variable represents or holds a value.

var variablename=variablevalue;

Variables

• are case-sensitive
• must begin with a letter or an underscore
• cannot contain spaces
• should avoid JavaScript's reserved words (words that have special meaning within JavaScript; check your textbook for a list of these)

If a variable is a string:

• it must be contained within matching double-quotes or single-quotes
• it is case-sensitive

Special characters:

This	is translated by Javascript	into this
\\		\
\t		tab
\"		"
\n		newline

There are several other special characters. Check the textbook for the complete list.

Boolean operators

You can set a variable to either true (1) or false (0).

(We won't be using Boolean operators for a while, but I wanted to get the concept recorded into the class notes now.)