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Very Basic Question

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  • 31-10-2007 5:55pm
    #1
    nollaig
    Closed Accounts Posts: 445 ✭✭


    Im not exactly into computers & ****.

    But need to know this.

    When you say a field is initial, does that mean it is blank or has a value of zero?

    Does a field with zero be regarded as initial too?


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    #2
    ianhobo
    Registered Users Posts: 413 ✭✭ianhobo


    Do you mean initialised? rather than initial?
    And what "field" are you refering to?

    In programming in general, when you want to store a number or other variable to use in your program, you "declare" it to the computer and give it a name. The computer/compiler now knows that this will exist. at some stage in the program. So for example you would declare "int x;" At some point in the life of the program a variable called x will exist.
    The problem is that the memory in the computer that has been set aside for x hasn't been initialised yet or set to known value. If you were to use x, or perform some calculation, you could get unknown/unexpected results.

    In order to prevent this, you initialise your variables so that you know what values they are before you start using them.
    ex: int x=0;
    i hope that helps!


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