Variable vs Identifier - What's the difference?

As nouns the difference between variable and identifier

is that variable is variable while identifier is someone who identifies; a person who establishes the identity of.

variable

English

(wikipedia variable)

Adjective

(en adjective)

Able to vary.

variable''' winds or seasons; a '''variable quantity

Likely to vary.

* Shakespeare

Lest that thy love prove likewise variable .

Marked by diversity or difference.

(mathematics) Having no fixed quantitative value.

(biology) Tending to deviate from a normal or recognized type.

Synonyms

* (able to vary) alterable, flexible, changeable, mutable * (likely to vary) fickle, fluctuating, inconstant, shifting, unstable, unsteady * (marked by diversity or difference) varying * aberrant

Antonyms

* (able to vary) constant, invariable, immutable, unalterable, unchangeable * (likely to vary) constant, invariable, immutable, unchangeable * (marked by diversity or difference) unchanging * constant, invariable

Derived terms

* variability * variableness

Noun

(en noun)

Something that is .

Something whose value may be dictated or discovered.

* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Katie L. Burke

, title= In the News , volume=101, issue=3, page=193, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola. A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents.}}

(mathematics) A quantity that may assume any one of a set of values.

(mathematics) A symbol representing a variable.

(programming) A named memory location in which a program can store intermediate results and from which it can read them.

(astronomy) A variable star.

(nautical) A shifting wind, or one that varies in force.

(nautical, in the plural) Those parts of the sea where a steady wind is not expected, especially the parts between the trade-wind belts.

Synonyms

* (something that is variable) changeable * (something whose value may be dictated or discovered) parameter * variable quantity

Antonyms

* (something that is variable) constant, invariable

Hyponyms

* See also

Derived terms

* bound variable * categorical variable * continuous variable * dependent variable * discrete variable * flow variable * free variable * global variable * independent variable * instance variable * interval variable * local variable * member variable * metasyntactic variable * nominal variable * ordinal variable * ratio variable * stock variable * variable star * variably * vary

External links

* * * ----

identifier

English

Noun

(en noun)

Someone who identifies; a person who establishes the identity of.

* {{quote-book, year=2001, title=The Career Guide to the Horse Industry, author=Theodore A. Landers

, passage=The Identifier personally inspects each horse in each race by verifying the lip tattoo, body color, head and leg markings, scars, and chestnut (night eyes). citation

* {{quote-book, year=2004, title=Great Horse Racing Mysteries: True Tales from the Track, author=John McEvoy

, passage=The foal papers are documents recording the horse's registration; no horse can start in any race unless his papers are in the hands of the track's identifier . citation

Something that identifies or uniquely points to something or someone else.

* {{quote-book, year=2008, author=Ted Dunstone, Neil Yager, title=Biometric System and Data Analysis

, passage=Prehistoric artists used hand-prints in cave paintings, perhaps as as 'signature'. They might be considered the earliest example of a biometric identifier .}}

A guidebook that helps determine the specific class of an object (such as a mushroom, herb, fish, bird, drug, or mineral), or its individual identity (such as that of a star).

(programming, operating systems) A formal name used in source code to refer to a variable, function, procedure, package, etc. or in an operating system to refer to a process, user, group, etc.

(databases) A primary key.