👉 In computer programming, an optional is a keyword or identifier that represents a variable that can be used in a conditional statement, but does not have to be assigned values. These variables are often used when you want to keep track of data without assigning it, and they are useful for creating reusable code. For example: ```cpp int a; if (a == 0) { // do something with a = 0 } ``` In this case, `a` is an optional