C Programming: Simple Data Types

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Fundamental C Data Types [1]
❑ Bits, Bytes and Words
❑ The smallest unit of memory is called a bit.
❑ It can hold one of two values: 0 or 1.
❑ The bit is the basic block of computer memory.
❑ A byte is 8 bits.
❑ A word is a natural unit of memory for a given computer design.
❑ Some computers have 32-bit words and more recent computers have
64-bit words.
❑ The larger a word is the more information it can store.
❑ The concept of types is important in that it determines the space
necessary to store the values of a particular type, and which valid
operations are defined on certain types.
❑ Whenever an identifier, (variable name, function name, formal
parameter name, user-defined type name, etc.) is declared to be of a
certain type, the type name always comes first, followed by the
identifier.

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❑ <type> <identifier> …
❑ Note Even though a type name may consist of more than one
word, it must still be considered as one autonomous type.
Fundamental C Data Types [2]
❑ The C language provides several fundamental data types.

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void and scalar data types
❑ The void data type indicates ‘nothing’.
❑ The void keyword may be used
❑ to indicate that a function does not return a
value, e.g. void do_it(int a)
❑ To indicate that no parameters are required
in the function definition, for e.g., int
do_it(void)

❑ Scalar Types
❑ Scalar types are largest group and are
called scalar because the types have only
one dimension (one value).
❑ There are three sub-groups of scalar types,
namely: arithmetic, pointer and enumerated
types.

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Arithmetic data types [1]
❑ These types are numeric types on which arithmetic operations,
amongst others, can be performed.
❑ Integer Types
❑ An integer type is a whole number.
❑ The sizes of the integer data types are very implementation dependent and are
therefore the types most closely associated with the host computer architecture.
❑ The sizes of these types range from 8 bits to 64 bits on some computers.
❑ In the following table, the square brackets […] indicate an optional word, since
without it the compiler will accept it anyway as the default:

Integer Type Description

[signed] char Signed character type
unsigned char Unsigned character type
[signed] short [int] Signed short integer type
[unsigned] short [int] Unsigned short integer type
[signed] int Signed normal integer type
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 [unsigned] int Unsigned normal integer type
[signed] long [int] Signed long integer type
[unsigned] long [int] Unsigned long integer type
Arithmetic data types [2]
❑ Floating Point Types
❑ A floating-point number more or less corresponds to a real number.
❑ Integers are whole number, whereas floating point numbers can represent
both whole and fractional numbers.
❑ No bit operations are allowed on floating point types.
❑ The three floating point types are:
❑ float
❑ double
❑ long double
❑ Floating point numbers can represent a much larger range of values than
integers, but tend to be slower than integer operations.

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❑ Character Data Types
❑ A char variable is used to store a single character.
❑ A character constant is formed by enclosing the character within a pair of
single quotation marks.
Constants
❑ Constants refer to fixed values that the program may not alter during
its execution. These fixed values are also called literals.
❑ The C pre-processor allows for a means to define constants which
can then be used later in a program.
❑ The constant data types must be defined before the main function.
❑ The constant name should be written in capitals and does not have a
semicolon at the end. The use of constants is mainly for making your
programs easier to understand and modify by others and yourself in
the future.
❑ Constants can be of any of the basic data types like an integer
constant, a floating constant, a character constant, or a string literal.
❑ Constants are treated just like regular variables except that their
values cannot be modified after their definition.
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❑ The format of a constant is shown below:
❑ #define CONSTANTNAME value
❑ for example:
❑ #define VAT 0.15 ❑ #define PI 3.14
❑ First comes #define, than the name followed by the value.
Summary: Data Types
❑ The basic data types associated with variables:
❑ int - integer: a whole number.
❑ long - integer: store a large whole number.
❑ float - floating point value: ie a number with a fractional part.
❑ double - a double-precision floating point value.
❑ char - a single character.
❑ void - valueless special purpose type .

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