What exactly are C++ definitions, declarations and assignments?

Question

I tend to use the words define, declare and assign interchangeably but this seems to cause offense to some people. Is this justified? Should I only use the word declare for

Answer 1

The correct answer depends on which language you're talking about. Computer languages often have specific terminology, either because of the language specification or the community grown up around the language. COBOL, back when I used it, had a much different terminology than more mainstream languages (in the sense of languages closer to the mainstream of language development, not mainstream business). Forth developed some strange terminology.

If you know English, you can usually get a good idea as to what a word means from its normal meaning, but never count on it too much. The same is true with specific words across languages or language communities.