Variables are the workhorses of programming. Whether it’s for keeping track of the weather digitally, loading a person’s name into a database, or for keeping score in a game, we need variables in order to make our more advanced programs work. 

To be more technical , variables are containers, holding pieces of information. What makes them special is that they can change as a program runs (like the name suggests -“VARY”able). This means that we can get different values (and so get our program to do different things) by referencing the same variable at different times.