Chapter 4
Making the Most of Variables and Their Values
In This Chapter
Assigning values to things
Making things store certain types of values
Applying operators to get new values
The following conversation between Mr. Van Doren and Mr. Barasch never took place:
Charles: A sea squirt eats its brain, turning itself from an animal into a plant.
Jack: Is that your final answer, Charles?
Charles: Yes, it is.
Jack: How much money do you have in your account today, Charles?
Charles: I have fifty dollars and twenty-two cents in my checking account.
Jack: Well, you better call the IRS, because your sea squirt answer is correct. You just won a million dollars to add to your checking account. What do you think of that, Charles?
Charles: I owe it all to honesty, diligence, and hard work, Jack.
Some aspects of this dialogue can be represented in Java by a few lines of code.
Varying a Variable
No matter how you acquire your million dollars, you can use a variable to tally your wealth. Listing 4-1 shows the code.
Listing 4-1: Using a Variable
amountInAccount = 50.22;
amountInAccount = amountInAccount + 1000000.00;
The code in Listing 4-1 makes use of the amountInAccount variable. A variable
