--- title: Declare Variables --- # Declare Variables JavaScript variable declarations can be sorted into three distinct components: the variable type, the variable name, and the variable value. ```js var myName = "Rafael"; ``` Let's break the above line of code into the pieces that make it up: ```js var/const/let ``` JavaScript variables can have three declaration types: var, const, and let. Var-type variables are global, if declared outside a function they can be accessed by any JS file (or the console), and if created within a function they are accessible regardless of block scope. Let-type variables are limited in scope to their block. See the example below for the difference. ```js function varTest() { var x = 1; if (true) { var x = 2; // same variable! console.log(x); // 2 } console.log(x); // 2 } function letTest() { let x = 1; if (true) { let x = 2; // different variable console.log(x); // 2 } console.log(x); // 1 } ``` Const-type variables have the same scope as let variables (block scope), but are immutable. Whatever value a const-type variable is to be assigned, must happen when the variable is declared, and JavaScript will thrown an error if the variable is changed later. ```js const genre = "non-fiction"; console.log(genre); // "non-fiction"; genre = "fantasy"; // error ``` Now that we can determine what the variable type is, let's take a look at the name. JavaScript variable names are written in `camel case` format. An example of camel case is: `camelCase`. In the context of our example: ```js myName ``` The name is also we'll access the variable again later: ```js console.log(myName); // "Rafael" ``` Finally, our value: ```js "Rafael" ``` JavaScript is dynamically typed, which means any given variable can represent any given data type at any given time. For example: ```js var example = "This is an example"; example = [0, 1, 2, 3] example = {test: "Result"} example = 5 ``` All those statements are perfectly valid - JavaScript variables can jump from string to array to object to integer. ### Declare object as const As mentioned above, const variable are immutable means value assigned to such variable at the time of declaration cannot be updated but there is a point to note in case object declaration with const. Object of type const also cannot be updated once defined but properties of object cab be. For example. ```js const Car1 = { name: 'BMW', model: 'X1', color: 'black' } ``` Here, we cannot update the object but we can update the properties by accessing through dot(.) operator as below. ```js Car1.color = 'Red'; console.log(Car1); O/P - {name: "BMW", model: "X1", color: "Red"} ``` If we need to to make enitre object as immutable (including properties) then we have to use freeze method.