"Every variable in C++ must be declared before it can be used!"

Suppose we are building a game and we want to keep track of a player’s score that goes from 0 to 10. We need a variable!

Before we can use a variable, we must declare, or create, it. To declare a variable, we need to provide two things:

• A type for the variable.
• A name for the variable.

So to declare an integer variable called score, we need to write:

int score;

• The int is the type of the variable.
• The score is the name of the variable.
• The ; is how we end a statement.

In C++, variable names consist only of upper/lower case letters, digits, and/or underscores.

Note: C++ is known as a strongly typed language. If you try to give an integer value a decimal number, you are going to get unexpected results, warnings, or errors.