There are only a few simple types of variables in the Ripley system.
Table 4-1. Ripley Variable Types
| Simple Types | These are numbers or strings. |
| Literals | These are strings that are going to be evaluated against the dictionary stack as soon as they are executed. |
| Arrays | An array of items. It can include other arrays or dictionaries. |
| Excutable Arrays | This is an array of elements that is to be loaded into the execution stack and evaluated. It is the Ripley equivalent of a function. |
| Dictionary | An array of key value pairs that can be indexed by key. |
The variable types are discussed in more details, with examples, in the following sections.