Java Programming
Connect 4 Techs
Data Types in Java
As the name suggests, data types specify the type of data that can be stored
inside variables in Java.
Java is a statically-typed language. This means that all variables must be
declared before they can be used.
int topperworld;
Here, topperworld is a variable, and the data type of the variable is int .
The int data type determines that the topperworld variable can only
contain integers.
Java has two categories in which data types are segregated:
• Primitive Data Type: such as boolean, char, int, short, byte, long, float,
and double
• Non-Primitive Data Type or Object Data type: such as String, Array,
etc.
Java Programming
-> Primitive Data Types
1. boolean type
• The boolean data type has two possible values, either true or false .
• Default value: false .
• They are usually used for true/false conditions.
Example : Java boolean data type
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
boolean flag = true;
System.out.println(flag); // prints true
}
}
2. byte type
• The byte data type can have values from -128 to 127 (8-bit signed
two's complement integer).
• If it's certain that the value of a variable will be within -128 to 127,
then it is used instead of int to save memory.
• Default value: 0
Java Programming
Example : Java byte data type
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
byte range;
range = 124;
System.out.println(range); // prints 124
}
}
3. short type
• The short data type in Java can have values from -
32768 to 32767 (16-bit signed two's complement integer).
• If it's certain that the value of a variable will be within -32768 and
32767, then it is used instead of other integer data types ( int , long ).
Default value: 0
Example : Java short data type
class Main {
void main(String[] args) {
public static
short
temperature;
temperature
= -200;
System.out.println(temperature); // prints -200
}
}
Java Programming
4. int type
• The int data type can have values from -231 to 231-1 (32-bit signed
two's complement integer).
• If you are using Java 8 or later, you can use an unsigned 32-bit integer.
This will have a minimum value of 0 and a maximum value of 232-1.
• Default value: 0
Example : Java int data type
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
int range = -4250000;
System.out.println(range); // print -4250000
}
}
5. long type
• The long data type can have values from -263 to 263-1 (64-bit signed
two's complement integer).
• If you are using Java 8 or later, you can use an unsigned 64-bit integer
with a minimum value of 0 and a maximum value of 264-1.
• Default value: 0
Example : Java long data type
class LongExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
long range = - 42332200000L;
System.out.println(range); // prints -42332200000
Notice, the use of L at the end of -42332200000 . This represents that it's an
integer of the long type.
Java Programming
6. double type
• The double data type is a double-precision 64-bit floating-point.
• It should never be used for precise values such as currency.
• Default value: 0.0 (0.0d)
Example: Java double data type
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
double number = -42.3;
System.out.println(number); // prints -42.3
}
}
7. float type
• The float data type is a single-precision 32-bit floating-point.
• It should never be used for precise values such as currency.
• Default value: 0.0 (0.0f)
Example : Java float data type
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
float number = -42.3f;
System.out.println(number); // prints -42.3
}
}
Notice that we have used -42.3f instead of -42.3 in the above program. It's
because -42.3 is a double literal.
To tell the compiler to treat -42.3 as float rather than double , you need to
use f or F.
Java Programming
8. char type
• It's a 16-bit Unicode character.
• The minimum value of the char data type is '\u0000' (0) and the
maximum value of the is '\uffff' .
• Default value: '\u0000'
Example: Java char data type
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
char letter = '\u0051';
System.out.println(letter); // prints Q
}
}
Here, the Unicode value of Q is \u0051. Hence, we get Q as the output.
Here is another example:
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
char letter1 = '9';
System.out.println(letter1); // prints 9
char letter2 = 65;
System.out.println(letter2); // prints A
}
}
Java Programming
Here, we have assigned 9 as a character (specified by single quotes) to
the letter1 variable. However, the letter2 variable is assigned 65 as an
integer number (no single quotes).
Hence, A is printed to the output. It is because Java treats characters as an
integer and the ASCII value of A is 65.
➔ Non-Primitive Data Types
String type
Java also provides support for character strings via java.lang.String class.
Strings in Java are not primitive types. Instead, they are objects. For
example,
String myString = "Java Programming";
Here, myString is an object of the String class.
Example: Create a String in Java
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// create strings
String first = "Java";
String second = "Python";
String third = "JavaScript";
// print strings
System.out.println(first); // print Java
System.out.println(second); // print Python
System.out.println(third); // print JavaScript
}
}
In the above example, we have created three strings named first , second
,
and third .
