Western Governors University (WGU) ITSW 2113 D278 Scripting and Programming Foundations Practice Exam

An assignment statement is used to assign a value to a variable in a programming language. This operation typically involves the use of an equals sign (e.g., `=`), which indicates that the value on the right side should be stored in the variable name on the left side. For instance, if you have a statement like `x = 5`, it means that the variable `x` now holds the value `5`. This foundational concept is crucial because variables are essential for storing and manipulating data in programming. Understanding assignment statements is vital, as they allow you to create dynamic programs that can operate on and modify values over time.

The other options do not accurately describe what an assignment statement does. A function name defines a reusable block of code; declaring an array involves creating a collection of variables; and creating a comment is used for documentation purposes within code, all of which are distinct from the concept of assigning values to variables.