Variables

Variable names may be of unlimited length and all characters are significant. Variable names must start with a letter. They can only contain the characters A..Z, a..z, 0..9 and underscore. Embedded keywords are allowed. Upper and lower case variables of the same name are different.

The following types of variable are allowed:

AReal numeric
A%Integer numeric
A$String

Numeric Variables

Real Variables

Real variables have a range of ±5.9E-39 to ±3.4E+38 and numeric functions evaluate to 9 significant figure accuracy. Internally every real number is stored in 40 bits (5 bytes). The number is composed of a 4 byte mantissa and a single byte exponent. An explanation of how variables are stored is given in the appendix Format of Program and Variables in Memory.

Integer Variables

Integer variables are stored in 32 bits and have a range of +2147483647 to -2147483648. It is not necessary to declare a variable as an integer for advantage to be taken of fast integer arithmetic. For example, FOR...NEXT loops execute at integer speed whether or not the control variable is an 'integer variable' (% type), so long as it has an integer value.

Static Variables

The variables A%..Z% are a special type of integer variable in that they are not cleared by the statements RUN, CHAIN and CLEAR. In addition A%, B%, C%, D%, E%, F%, H% and L% have special uses in CALL and USR routines and P% and O% have a special meaning in the Assembler (P% is the program counter and O% points to the code origin). The special variable @% controls numeric print formatting. The variables @%..Z% are called 'static', all other variables are called 'dynamic'.

Boolean Variables

Boolean variables can only take one of the two values TRUE or FALSE. Unfortunately, BBC BASIC does not have true boolean variables. However, it does allow numeric variables to be used for logical operations. The operands are converted to 4 byte integers (by truncation) before the logical operation is performed. For example:

PRINT NOT 1.5  
      -2

The argument, 1.5, is truncated to 1 and the logical inversion of this gives -2.

PRINT NOT -1.5  
       0

The argument is truncated to -1 and the logical inversion of this gives 0.

Two numeric functions, TRUE and FALSE, are provided. TRUE returns the value -1 and FALSE the value 0. These values allow the logical operators (NOT, AND, EOR and OR) to work properly. However, anything which is non-zero is considered to be TRUE. This can give rise to confusion, since +1 is considered to be TRUE and NOT(+1) is -2, which is also considered to be TRUE.

Numeric Accuracy

Numbers are stored in binary format. Integers and the mantissa of real numbers are stored in 32 bits. This gives a maximum accuracy of just over 9 decimal digits. It is possible to display up to 10 digits before switching to exponential (scientific) notation (PRINT and STR$). This is of little use when displaying real numbers because the accuracy of the last digit is suspect, but it does allow the full range of integers to be displayed. Numbers up to the maximum integer value may be entered as a decimal constant without any loss of accuracy. For instance, A%=2147483647 is equivalent to A%=&7FFFFFFF.

String Variables and Garbage

Strings

String variables may contain up to 255 characters. An explanation of how variables are stored is given at the appendix entitled Format of Program and Variables in Memory.

Garbage Generation

Unlike numeric variables, string variables do not have a fixed length. When you create a string variable, the memory used is sufficient for the initial value of the string. If you subsequently assign a longer string to the variable there will be insufficient room for it and the string will have to occupy a different area in memory. The initial area will then become 'dead'. These areas of 'dead' memory are called garbage. As more and more re-assignments take place, the area of memory used for the variables grows and eventually there is no more room. Several versions of BASIC have automatic 'garbage collection' routines which tidy up the variable memory space when this occurs. Unfortunately, this can take several seconds and can be embarrassing if your program is time conscious. BBC BASIC (Z80) does not incorporate 'garbage collection' routines and it is possible to run out of room for variables even though there should be enough space.

Memory Allocation

You can overcome the problem of 'garbage' by reserving enough memory for the longest string you will ever put into a variable before you use it. You do this simply by assigning a string of spaces to the variable. If your program needs to find an empty string the first time it is used, you can subsequently assign a null string to it. The same technique can be used for string arrays. The example below sets up a single dimensional string array with room for 20 characters in each entry, and then empties it ready for use.

10 DIM names$(10)
20 FOR i=0 TO 10
30   name$(i)=STRING$(20," ")
40 NEXT
50 stop$="";
60 FOR i=0 TO 10
70   name$(i)="";
80 NEXT

Assigning a null string to stop$ prevents the space for the last entry in the array being recovered when it is emptied.

Arrays

Arrays of integer, real and string variables are allowed. All arrays must be dimensioned before use. Integers, reals and strings cannot be mixed in a multi-dimensional array; you have to use one array for each type of variable you need.