To process the information of your program or the requests that your program presents to the user, the computer uses

• (B-1) Two types of storage spaces

(B-1) The hard drive

• A static storage area that keeps its information all the time, almost regardless of what happens to your computer

(B-1) Random Access Memory (RAM)

• This storage area keeps its information only when the computer is turned on. This means that the RAM loses its Information when the computer is turned off

When the user “opens” or launches a program

• Part of the program “goes” into the RAM

If or when the application is not used anymore, which means that if the user “closes” the application

• The part of memory that the application was using in the RAM is gone and the memory space that the application was using becomes available

When your program opens

• Part of your application gets “loaded” into the RAM

When the user is using your application

• The information that your application requests also goes into the RAM while your application is processing such requests

Before using such a variable

• You must first let the compiler know

Letting the compiler know about a variable is referred to

• “Declaring” the variable

The compiler will need two pieces of information concerning each variable

• The amount of space the variable will need
• A name to recognize that variable