The first step to using variables is choosing a name. As with everything in programming, there are rules to naming variables: they must begin with a letter, they can’t contain a period or type-declaration character, they can’t be more than 255 characters, and they must be unique within the same scope. Once you’ve chosen a name, you’re ready to use the variable in your program. The common (and best) method of doing this is to "declare" the variable by using the "Dim" keyword