Variablelike

Variablelike is an informal term used in computer science to describe constructs that function similarly to a variable. In general, a variablelike entity denotes a storage location that can hold a value, and that may be assigned to and read from during computation. Because it is informal, the exact scope and characteristics of what is variablelike vary by language and context.

In programming language design, the distinction often centers on assignability and mutability. Variablelike entities include traditional variables, array elements, object fields, and references that can be reassigned to other values. Some languages treat names as mutable binding sites, while others treat them as immutable once bound. The term also covers data structures that provide mutable storage, such as mutable references or cells (for example, references or pointers in various languages).

Other domains share the intuition as well. In spreadsheets, each cell is a variablelike container that stores a value and participates in formulas; in databases or data modeling, columns or attributes can be thought of as variablelike fields in a record. The label is used more to discuss semantics of mutability and binding than to denote a formal category.

See also: variable, l-value, assignment, mutable, reference, storage location.