In programming, a variable is a container for a value. You can think of variables as little containers for information that live in a computer’s memory. Information stored in variables, such as a username, account number, or even personalized greeting can then be found in memory.

Variables also provide a way of labeling data with a descriptive name, so our programs can be understood more clearly by the reader and ourselves.

In short, variables label and store data in memory. There are only a few things you can do with variables:

1. Create a variable with a descriptive name.
2. Store or update information stored in a variable.
3. Reference or “get” information stored in a variable.

It is important to distinguish that variables are not values; they contain values and represent them with a name. Observe the diagram with the colored boxes. Each box represents variables; the values are represented by the content, and the name is represented with the label.

In this lesson, we will cover how to use the var, let, and const keywords to create variables.