Just to kick the dead horse a bit:
Change of length is what we call an "extensive" property, it means that if you add up change of length from each part of the bar, you get the change of length of the entire bar. This is true regardless of how you split the bar up.
Strain is what we call an "intensive" property. It is a property that does not add between different parts of the bar and (assuming equal stress and material properties) is the same everywhere on the bar regardless of the size of the part you select.
Other examples of extensive properties: mass, momentum, force
Other examples of intensive properties: density, pressure, temperature