Variables and Storage

• Introduction
• Names
• Variables
• The Concept of Binding
• Scope
• Scope and Lifetime
• Referencing Environments
• Named Constants

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Introduction

• Imperative languages are abstractions of

von Neumann architecture
– Memory (stores instruction and data)
– Processor (provides operations over content of memory)

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Variables

• A variable is an abstraction of a memory

cell
• Variables can be characterized as a
sextuple of attributes:
– Name
– Address
– Value
– Type
– Lifetime
– Scope

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Variables Attributes

• Name – a string of characterds to identify some

entity in a program
– not all variables have them
– If too short, they cannot be meaningful
– Case Sensitivity: affects readability
– Special Words (Reserved Words) cannot be used
– May have special characters, eg:

PHP: all variable names must Perl: all variable names begin with
start with dollar sign special characters, specifying type

$var = 2; $var1 = 2; #scalar

@var2 = (1,2,3); #array
%var3 = ('a',1, 'b',2); #hash

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Variables Attributes (continued)

• Address - the memory address with which it is

associated
– A variable may have different addresses at different times
during execution (eg: local variable of a subprogram)
– If two variable names can be used to access the same
memory location, they are called aliases
– Aliases are created via pointers, reference variables, C and
C++ union types
– Aliases are harmful to readability (program
readers must remember all of them)

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Variables Attributes (continued)

• Type - determines the range of values of variables

and the set of operations that are defined for
values of that type; in the case of floating point,
type also determines the precision
• Value - the contents of the location with which the
variable is associated
- The l-value of a variable is its address
- The r-value of a variable is its value
• Abstract memory cell - the physical cell or
collection of cells associated with a variable

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The Concept of Binding

A binding is an association between an

entity and an attribute, such as between a
variable and its type or value, or between
an operation and a symbol
• Binding time is the time at which a binding
takes place.

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Possible Binding Times

• Language design time -- bind operator

symbols to operations
• Language implementation time-- bind
floating point type to a representation
• Compile time -- bind a variable to a type
in C or Java
• Load time -- bind a C or C++ static
variable to a memory cell)
• Runtime -- bind a nonstatic local variable
to a memory cell
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Static and Dynamic Binding

• A binding is static if it first occurs before

run time and remains unchanged
throughout program execution.
• A binding is dynamic if it first occurs during
execution or can change during execution
of the program

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Type Binding

• How is a type specified?

• When does the binding take place?
• If static, the type may be specified by either
an explicit or an implicit declaration

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Explicit/Implicit Declaration
• An explicit declaration is a program
statement used for declaring the types of
variables
• An implicit declaration is a default
mechanism for specifying types of variables
through default conventions, rather than
declaration statements
• Basic, Perl, Ruby, JavaScript, and PHP
provide implicit declarations
– Advantage: writability (a minor convenience)
– Disadvantage: reliability (less trouble with Perl)

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Explicit/Implicit Declaration (continued)

• Some languages use type inferencing to

determine types of variables (context)
– C# - a variable can be declared with var and an
initial value. The initial value sets the type

– Visual Basic 9.0+, ML, Haskell, and F# use type

inferencing. The context of the appearance of a
variable determines its type

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Dynamic Type Binding
• Dynamic Type Binding (JavaScript, Python,
Ruby, PHP, and C# (limited))
• Specified through an assignment statement
e.g., JavaScript
list = [2, 4.33, 6, 8];
list = 17.3;
– Advantage: flexibility (generic program units)
– Disadvantages:
• High cost (dynamic type checking and
interpretation)
• Type error detection by the compiler is difficult

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Variable Attributes (continued)

• Storage Bindings & Lifetime

– Allocation - getting a cell from some pool of
available cells
– Deallocation - putting a cell back into the pool
• The lifetime of a variable is the time during
which it is bound to a particular memory
cell

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Categories of Variables by Lifetimes

• Static--bound to memory cells before

execution begins and remains bound to the
same memory cell throughout execution,
e.g., C and C++ static variables in
functions
– Advantages: efficiency (direct addressing),
history-sensitive subprogram support
– Disadvantage: lack of flexibility (no recursion)

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Categories of Variables by Lifetimes
• Stack-dynamic--Storage bindings are created for
variables when their declaration statements are
elaborated.
(A declaration is elaborated when the executable
code associated with it is executed)
• If scalar, all attributes except address are statically
bound
– local variables in C subprograms (not declared static)
and Java methods
• Advantage: allows recursion; conserves storage
• Disadvantages:
– Overhead of allocation and deallocation
– Subprograms cannot be history sensitive
– Inefficient references (indirect addressing)
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 Categories of Variables by Lifetimes
• Explicit heap-dynamic -- Allocated and
deallocated by explicit directives, specified by the
programmer, which take effect during execution
• Referenced only through pointers or references,
e.g. dynamic objects in C++ (via new and delete),
all objects in Java
• Advantage: provides for dynamic storage
management
• Disadvantage: inefficient and unreliable

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 Categories of Variables by Lifetimes

• Implicit heap-dynamic--Allocation and

deallocation caused by assignment
statements
– all variables in APL; all strings and arrays in Perl,
JavaScript, and PHP
• Advantage: flexibility (generic code)
• Disadvantages:
– Inefficient, because all attributes are dynamic
– Loss of error detection

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