{assign var="name" value="Bob"}
{assign "name" "Bob"} {* short-hand *}
The value of $name is {$name}.
{* Other cool examples *}
{foreach $videos as $video}
{$video.title_ns = {$video.title|lower|replace:' ':'-'}}
{/foreach}
{assign var="name" value="somestring_{$item.id}"}
{assign "access" value=false}
or
{assign var="access" value=false}
or
{$access=false}