Abstract
The ability to divide data into different types is one of the most important features of modern programming languages. It enables you to work with relatively complex objects instead of the more mundane objects that the computer manipulates at its lowest level. You can deal with integers, characters, and floating-point numbers, all of which are familiar entities. At the bit and byte level, the computer may not understand these concepts. It is up to the compiler, therefore, to make sure that the computer handles bits and bytes in a way consistent with their data type. A data type is really just an interpretation applied to a string of bits.
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.
Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
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© 1996 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.
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Darnell, P.A., Margolis, P.E. (1996). Scalar Data Types. In: C A Software Engineering Approach. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4020-4_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4020-4_4
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-94675-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-4020-4
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