JAVA BASIC DATA TYPES
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Variables are nothing but reserved memory locations to store values. T his means that when you create a variable
you reserve some space in memory.
Based on the data type of a variable, the operating system allocates memory and decides what can be stored in
the reserved memory. T herefore, by assig ning different data types to variables, you can store integ ers,
decimals, or characters in these variables.
T here are two data types available in Java:
Primitive Data T ypes
Reference/Object Data T ypes
Primitive Data Types:
T here are eig ht primitive data types supported by Java. Primitive data types are predefined by the lang uag e and
named by a keyword. Let us now look into detail about the eig ht primitive data types.
byte:
Byte data type is an 8-bit sig ned two's complement integ er.
Minimum value is -128 (-2^7)
Maximum value is 127 (inclusive)(2^7 -1)
Default value is 0
Byte data type is used to save space in larg e arrays, mainly in place of integ ers, since a byte is four times
smaller than an int.
Example: byte a = 100 , byte b = -50
short:
Short data type is a 16-bit sig ned two's complement integ er.
Minimum value is -32,768 (-2^15)
Maximum value is 32,767 (inclusive) (2^15 -1)
Short data type can also be used to save memory as byte data type. A short is 2 times smaller than an int
Default value is 0.
Example: short s = 10000, short r = -20000
int:
Int data type is a 32-bit sig ned two's complement integ er.
Minimum value is - 2,147,483,648.(-2^31)
Maximum value is 2,147,483,647(inclusive).(2^31 -1)
Int is g enerally used as the default data type for integ ral values unless there is a concern about memory.
T he default value is 0.
Example: int a = 100000, int b = -200000
long :
Long data type is a 64-bit sig ned two's complement integ er.
Minimum value is -9,223,372,036,854,775,808.(-2^63)
Maximum value is 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 (inclusive). (2^63 -1)
T his type is used when a wider rang e than int is needed.
Default value is 0L.
Example: long a = 100000L, int b = -200000L
float:
Float data type is a sing le-precision 32-bit IEEE 754 floating point.
Float is mainly used to save memory in larg e arrays of floating point numbers.
Default value is 0.0f.
Float data type is never used for precise values such as currency.
Example: float f1 = 234.5f
double:
double data type is a double-precision 64-bit IEEE 754 floating point.
T his data type is g enerally used as the default data type for decimal values, g enerally the default choice.
Double data type should never be used for precise values such as currency.
Default value is 0.0d.
Example: double d1 = 123.4
boolean:
boolean data type represents one bit of information.
T here are only two possible values: true and false.
T his data type is used for simple flag s that track true/false conditions.
Default value is false.
Example: boolean >
char:
char data type is a sing le 16-bit Unicode character.
Minimum value is '\u0000' (or 0).
Maximum value is '\uffff' (or 65,535 inclusive).
Char data type is used to store any character.
Example: char letterA ='A'
Reference Data Types:
Reference variables are created using defined constructors of the classes. T hey are used to access
objects. T hese variables are declared to be of a specific type that cannot be chang ed. For example,
Employee, Puppy etc.
Class objects, and various type of array variables come under reference data type.
Default value of any reference variable is null.
A reference variable can be used to refer to any object of the declared type or any compatible type.
Example: Animal animal = new Animal("g iraffe");
Java Literals:
A literal is a source code representation of a fixed value. T hey are represented directly in the code without any
computation.
Literals can be assig ned to any primitive type variable. For example:
byte a = 68;
char a = 'A'
byte, int, long , and short can be expressed in decimal(base 10), hexadecimal(base 16) or octal(base 8) number
systems as well.
Prefix 0 is used to indicate octal and prefix 0x indicates hexadecimal when using these number systems for
literals. For example:
int decimal = 100;
int octal = 0144;
int hexa = 0x64;
String literals in Java are specified like they are in most other lang uag es by enclosing a sequence of characters
between a pair of double quotes. Examples of string literals are:
"Hello World"
"two\nlines"
"\"This is in quotes\""
String and char types of literals can contain any Unicode characters. For example:
char a = '\u0001';
String a = "\u0001";
Java lang uag e supports few special escape sequences for String and char literals as well. T hey are:
Notation Charac ter represented
\n Newline (0x0a)
\r Carriag e return (0x0d)
\f Formfeed (0x0c)
\b Backspace (0x08)
\s Space (0x20)
\t tab
\" Double quote
\' Sing le quote
\\ backslash
\ddd Octal character (ddd)
\uxxxx Hexadecimal UNICODE character (xxxx)
What is Next?
T his chapter explained you various data types, next topic explains different variable types and their usag e. T his
will g ive you a g ood understanding about how they can be used in the Java classes, interfaces, etc.
