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A variable is a string of letters identifying an information 'box', a place to store data. The box is given a name consisting of a maximum of 32 characters, starting with an alphabetic letter. Custom and common sense dictate that all variables used inside a function consist of lowercase letters only. Global variables have the first letter in uppercase, the rest lowercase. No special character other than the '_' used to separate words is ever used. Variables should always be given names that reflect on their use. You declare variables like this:
<data type> <variable name>, <another variable>, ..., <last variable>;
e.g.
int counter;
float height, weight;
mapping age_map;
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Variables must be declared at the beginning of a block (right after the first '{') and before any code statements. Global variables, variables that are available in all functions throughout the program, should be declared at the top of the file.
When the declarations are executed as the program runs, they are initially
set to 0, NOT to their 'null-state' values. In other words for
example mappings, arrays and strings will all be set to 0 and not to
([]), ({}) and "" as you might believe. It is possible
to initialize variables in the declaration statement, and it's even a very
good habit always to initialize arrays and mappings there:
<data type> <variable name> = <value>, etc.
e.g.
int counter = 8;
float height = 3.0, weight = 1.2;
mapping age_map = ([]);
object *monsters = ({});
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The reason why arrays and mappings should be initialized in the
declaration statement to their 'NULL' values (({}) and
([]) respectively) is that otherwise they are initialized to 0,
which is incompatible with the proper type of the variable and might
cause problems later on in the function they are part of.
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