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Primitive Data Types

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Non-Object Data in Java

Java users several types of constructs

  • Outermost Blocks
  • Classes
  • Interfaces
  • Annotations
  • Enums
  • Other types
  • Arrays
  • Primitives

You can have no more than one public structure in a file with the file name, matching, the public structure

Primitive Data Types

Primitives are simply variables to hold data

Java provides several primitive data types, there are 8 in total, they are:

Data Type Size Description
byte 1 byte (8 bits) Stores whole numbers from -128 to 127
short 2 bytes Stores whole numbers from -32,768 to 32,767
int 4 bytes Stores whole numbers from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647
long 8 bytes Stores whole numbers from -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 9,223,372,036,854,775,807
float 4 bytes Stores fractional numbers. Sufficient for storing 6 to 7 decimal digits
double 8 bytes Stores fractional numbers. Sufficient for storing 15 decimal digits
boolean 1 bit Stores true or false values
char 2 bytes 160bit Unicode. Stores a single character/letter or ASCII values

Integer Types

The integer types in Java are byte, short, in and long

Arithmetic expressions can throw exceptions for circumstances such as a divide by zero.

The compiler assumes literals are integer values; to declare a long literal you would append 'L'. long myLong = 23456L

Real Number Types

Real numbers are represented by float and double types. Real number literals default to double Real numbers also include special values for infinity and NaN

To declare a float, append 'F'. float myFloat = 234.567F

To declare a long, append 'L' `long myLong = 1231345235252524L'