ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Algol variable

An algol variable is like a container that holds information that can change. Think of it like a jar that can hold different types of things like toys, candy, or pencils. When you need to use what's inside the jar, you can take it out and put something else in.

In computer programming, we use variables to hold different kinds of information like numbers, words, and even pictures. We can change what's inside the variable by giving it new information. For example, if we have a variable called "age" and it starts out holding the number 5, we can change it to hold the number 6 later on.

Just like how you can write your name on your toy jar to remember what's inside, we give our variables names so we can remember what information they hold. That way, we can use them again and again in our program without having to remember what the information is or create a new variable each time.

So an algol variable is a special type of container that holds changing information, kind of like a toy jar that holds different things.