Constants in programming are definitions whose value is fixed throughout a program's execution. Literals in most languages are constants, for example. In referentially transparent programming styles, all definitions are constant.
In programming, a constant is an identifier whose associated value cannot typically be altered by the program during its execution (though in some cases this can be circumvented, e.g. using self-modifying code). Many programming languages make an explicit syntactic distinction between constant and variable symbols.
Although a constant's value is specified only once, a constant may be referenced many times in a program. Using a constant instead of specifying a value multiple times in the program cannot only simplify code maintenance, but it can also supply a meaningful name for it and consolidate such constant bindings to a standard code location (for example, at the beginning).
