The variable contains    53

The LET Statement

Look at the (first) program again:

' Program that uses a variable
'
LET NUM = 23.5
PRINT "The variable contains", NUM
END

In this program, NUM is a variable. The programmer chose the name NUM . When the program runs, several things happen when the LET statement executes:

• Memory is reserved for the variable NUM
• The number 23.5 is stored in the variable

So after this statement has executed a section of memory named NUM holds 23.5:

NUM

23.5

After the first statement has executed, the second statement executes:

PRINT "The variable contains", NUM

The variable NUM already exists, so no more memory is reserved for it. The PRINT statement does several things:

• It prints "The variable contains"
• It looks in the variable NUM for a number.
• It prints out the number it found.

So on the monitor you see:

The variable contains    23.5

' Program with a variable
'
LET VALUE = 2 + 3
PRINT "The result is", VALUE
END