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Data Types

1. What is a Data Type?​

Data type (or just type) determines the possible values that an identifier can have and the valid operations that can be applied on it.

2. How many Data Types present in C?​

In C language, data types are broadly classified in to three types:

a. Basic data types (primitive data types) b. Derived data types c. User-defined data types

3. What are the Basic Data Types in C?​

The C programming language provides the user with four basic data types.

  • int -> An integer.
  • float -> A floating point(real) number.
  • char -> A single byte of memory, enough to hold a character.
  • double -> double precision floating point number.

4. Explain about data type Qualifiers?​

The C programming language provides the user with three basic data type qualifiers.

  • short -> An integer possibly of reduced range.
  • long -> An integer possibly of increased range.
  • unsigned -> An integer with no negative range, the spare capacity being used to increase the positive range.

Example:

#include <stdio.h>  
void main()
{
 char c ;
 unsigned char d ;
 int i ;
 unsigned int j ;
 short int k ;
 unsigned short int l ;
 long int m ;
 unsigned long int n ;
 float x ;
 double y ;
 long double z ;
 /* char */
 scanf ( "%c %c", &c, &d ) ;
 printf ( "%c %c", c, d ) ;
 /* int */
 scanf ( "%d %u", &i, &j ) ;
 printf ( "%d %u", i, j ) ;
 /* short int */
 scanf ( "%d %u", &k, &l ) ;
 printf ( "%d %u", k, l ) ;
 /* long int */
 scanf ( "%ld %lu", &m, &n ) ;
 printf ( "%ld %lu", m, n ) ;
 /* float, double, long double */
 scanf ( "%f %lf %Lf", &x, &y, &z ) ;
 printf ( "%f %lf %Lf", x, y, z ) ;
}

5. What are the Derived Data Types ?​

These data types are derived from the basic data types. Derived data types availabe in C are:

a. Array type e.g. char[ ],int[ ], etc. b. Pointer type e.g. char*, int*, etc. c. Function type e.g.int(int,int), float(int), etc. NOTE : Derived Data Types will be explained in next chapters

6. What are the User-defined Data Types ?​

The C language provides flexibility to the user to create new data types. These newly created data types are called user-defined data types. The user-defined data types in C can be created by using: a. Structure b. Union c. Enumeration NOTE : Derived Data Types will be explained in next chapters