Java Variables

I have already mentioned that variables are our data. Data is simply, values. We can think of a variable as a named storage box. We choose a name, perhaps livesRemaining. These names are kind of like our programmer's window into the memory of the user's Android device.

Variables are values in computer memory ready to be used or altered when necessary by using the name they were given.

Computer memory has a highly complex system of addressing, which fortunately we do not need to interact with because it is handled by the operating system. Java variables allow us to devise our own convenient names for all the data we need our program to work with.

The DVM (Dalvik Virtual Machine) will handle all the technicalities of interacting with the operating system, and the operating system will, in turn, interact with the physical memory, the RAM microchips.

So, we can think of our Android device's memory as a huge warehouse just waiting for us to add our variables. When...