Question

What happens to a variable's current contents when a new value is stored there?

Short answer

Answer: When a new value is assigned to a variable in programming, its current contents are replaced by the new value. The old value is removed from the memory location assigned to the variable, and the new value takes its place. This process is sometimes referred to as "overwriting" the contents of the variable.

Step-by-step solution

Introduction

Variables are used in programming to store data that can be modified, retrieved, or manipulated at any point in a program. When a new value is stored in a variable, its current contents are replaced by the new value. This is because variables have a specific memory location assigned to them, and when a new value is assigned to the variable, the old value is removed from that location in memory and replaced with the new value.

Declare a variable

Declare a variable by specifying its data type, followed by its name. For example, if you want to create an integer variable named "number", you would write "int number;".

Assign a value to the variable

Assign a value to the declared variable. For example, "number = 5;" assigns the value 5 to the variable "number".

Store a new value in the variable

If you want to change the value of the variable, simply assign a new value to it, just like you did in Step 2. For example, "number = 10;" assigns the value 10 to the variable "number", replacing the previous value 5.

Understand the memory allocation

When a variable is assigned a new value, its previous value is removed from memory. This is because the memory location assigned to the variable now contains the new value, and the old value is no longer accessible. This process of replacing the old value with a new one is sometimes referred to as "overwriting" the contents of the variable.

Visualize the process of storing a new value

To better understand the process, imagine a variable as a box. When a new value is assigned to the variable, the old value is removed from the box and replaced with the new value. The space in the box is limited, so only one value can be stored in the variable at any given time.