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Constant Definition
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Definitions vs Declarations, Definitions and Declarations (computer programming): Type definition - User-defined type definition, Variable definition - Constant definition, Class definition - Object definition, Constructor definition - Destructor definition, Struct definition - Record definition, Function definition - Method definition, Lambda definition - Anonymous function definition, Enumerator definition, Pointer definition, Generic definition - Template definition, Interface definition - Protocol definition - Trait definition, Namespace definition - Package definition - Module definition - Alias definition - Import definition - Export definition, Macro definition. Programming terms. (navbar_definition)
- Snippet from Wikipedia: Constant (computer programming)
In computer programming, a constant is a value that is not altered by the program during normal execution. When associated with an identifier, a constant is said to be "named," although the terms "constant" and "named constant" are often used interchangeably. This is contrasted with a variable, which is an identifier with a value that can be changed during normal execution. To simplify, constants' values remains, while the values of variables varies, hence both their names.
Constants are useful for both programmers and compilers: for programmers, they are a form of self-documenting code and allow reasoning about correctness, while for compilers, they allow compile-time and run-time checks that verify that constancy assumptions are not violated, and allow or simplify some compiler optimizations.
There are various specific realizations of the general notion of a constant, with subtle distinctions that are often overlooked. The most significant are: compile-time (statically valued) constants, run-time (dynamically valued) constants, immutable objects, and constant types (
const).Typical examples of compile-time constants include mathematical constants, values from standards (here maximum transmission unit), or internal configuration values (here characters per line), such as these C examples:
Typical examples of run-time constants are values calculated based on inputs to a function, such as this C++ example:
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- Snippet from Wikipedia: Declaration (computer programming)
In computer programming, a declaration is a language construct specifying identifier properties: it declares a word's (identifier's) meaning. Declarations are most commonly used for functions, variables, constants, and classes, but can also be used for other entities such as enumerations and type definitions. Beyond the name (the identifier itself) and the kind of entity (function, variable, etc.), declarations typically specify the data type (for variables and constants), or the type signature (for functions); types may also include dimensions, such as for arrays. A declaration is used to announce the existence of the entity to the compiler; this is important in those strongly typed languages that require functions, variables, and constants, and their types to be specified with a declaration before use, and is used in forward declaration. The term "declaration" is frequently contrasted with the term "definition", but meaning and usage varies significantly between languages; see below.
Declarations are particularly prominent in languages in the ALGOL tradition, including the BCPL family, most prominently C and C++, and also Pascal. Java uses the term "declaration", though Java does not require separate declarations and definitions.
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