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The difference between variables and constants is that the value stored in a variable can be changed at any time after it has been created. The value assigned to a constant, as the name suggests, cannot be changed once it has been declared an initialized.
== Declaring and Initializing Visual Basic Variables ==
Variables are declared using the Visual Basic ''Dim'' keyword. The syntax for a simple declaration of a variable is as follows:
'''Dim''' ''variableName'' '''As''' ''variableType''
In the above outline, ''Dim'' is the keyword which indicates to Visual Basic that a variable is being declared. ''variableName'' is the name assigned to the variable. Try to use a descriptive variable name and prefix the name with something which indicates the variable type. For example, when declaring a String variable prefix the name with ''str'' (e.g strFirstName). The ''As'' keyword precedes the declaration of the variable type (String, Date, Integer etc). For a complete list of Visual Basic variable types see [[Understanding Visual Basic Variable & Constant Types]].
To declare an Integer value named intInterestRate for example:
<pre>
Dim intInterestRate As Integer
</pre>
It is also possible to declare multiple variables on the same line. The only prerequisite is that the variables be of the same type:
<pre>
Dim intInterestRate, intExchangeRate As Integer
</pre>
