How should a variable be declared in programming?

In programming, declaring a variable typically involves specifying its type and then assigning it a value. The correct format for this is to first declare the type of the variable, followed by the variable's name, and then assign it an initial value. This ensures that the programming language knows what kind of data will be stored in the variable, which influences how the variable behaves and what operations can be performed on it.

For example, if you have an integer variable named 'age', you would declare it like this:

int age = 25;

In this declaration, int is the type, age is the variable name, and 25 is the value being assigned to that variable. This structure is common in statically typed languages, where the type of a variable needs to be known at compile time.

The other choices presented use incorrect syntax based on conventional programming languages, which can lead to misunderstandings about how to properly declare variables.