What is the difference between variable and object?

Question

when I define a variable with a string-type.. is it considered an object of the class string?
I mean are variable and object the same thing?

Answer 1

An Object is an instance of a Class, it is stored some where in memory.
A reference is what is used to describe the pointer to the memory location where the Object resides.
A variableis a means by which you can access that memory location within your application (its value is "variable").