Commodore VIC-20 - Page 76

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BASIC, therefore, BANANA and BANDAGE are the same name
since both begin with BA.
The advantage of using longer variable names is that they make
programs easier to read. PARTNO, for example, is more
meaningful than PA as a variable name describing a part number in
an inventory program.
VIC BASIC allows variable names to have up to 255 characters.
The following are examples of names with more than the minimum
number of characters:
MEMBERS
T1234567
BBBS
ABCDPG%
PARTY
If you use extended variable names, keep in mind the following:
1. Oniy the first two characters, plus the identifier symbol, are
significant in identifying a variable. Do not use extended
names like LOOP1 and LOOP2; these refer to the same
variable: LO.
2. VIC BASIC has what are called "reserved words." These are
words that have special meaning for the VIC BASIC
interpreter. No variable can contain a reserved word, in longer
names you have to be very careful that a reserved word does
not occur embedded anywhere in the name.
3. The additional characters need extra memory space, which
you might need for longer programs.
The BASIC interpreter recognizes certain words as requests for
specific operations. Names that are used to call up certain
operations are called "reserved words." These words cannot be
used as variable names because the interpreter will recognize the
word as a request for the corresponding operation. Moreover, you
cannot use a reserved word as any part of your variable name;
BASIC will still find it and treat it as a request for an operation.
ARRAYS
An array is a sequence of related variables. A table of numbers,
for example, may be visualized as an array. The individual numbers
within the table become "elements" of the array.
Arrays are a useful shorthand means of describing a large
number o! related variables. Consider, for example, a table of
numbers containing ten rows of numbers, with twenty numbers in
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