A common error in programming is to use variables that have not been initialized before. For example, in C and C++, all variables have an indefinite value after declaration - their value can be anything. Thus, the following program
main()
{
int x;
printf("%d\n",x);
}
could print any number. But even in languages such as Pascal, where all values are initialized to zero, it is useful to give variables definite values before using them, the avoid side effects when your code portion is placed into a different context.
Generally, the problem of deciding for a given program whether all variables have been assigned values before they are read out, is undecidable. But if you, as in this problem, consider only a sequence of assignments, the problem becomes solvable.