A small variable intended to hold a single letter, digit, space or punctuation. Some languages have no special Character variable, but implement them instead as a text string one character long. String, Text string. A variable intended to hold text, such as the sentence you're now reading, or a person's name or a filename. Strings can be lengthened, shortened, pruned of leading or trailing spaces, capitalized, or anything else the programmer can write instructions to do.
Computer languages vary widely in their handling of strings.
Structure, Record A structure is a variable composed of other variables, which can be simple variables like integers and strings, or other structures. For instance, you might make a structure to represent an employee, with a string for first name, a string for last name, a string for phone number, and an integer for salary. Objects are used primarily in Object Oriented Programming, which is reviewed in a separate course. Type, Variable Type As discussed above, there are different types of variables, and programming languages enforce your use of types. There are advantages and disadvantages to each.