Data types and Storage
To store data inside the computer we need to first identify the type of data elements we need in our program. There are several different types of data, which may be represented differently within the computer memory. The data type specifies two things:
- Permissible range of values that it can store
- Memory requirement to store a data type
C Language provides four basic data types viz. int, char, float and double. Using these, we can store data in simple ways as single elements or we can group them together and use different ways (to be discussed later) to store them as per requirement.
| Data Type | Description | Size | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| int | Integer | 2 Bytes | -32,768 to 32,767 |
| char | Character | 1 Byte | -128 to 127 |
| float | Floating Point Number | 4 Bytes | 3.4e-38 to 3.4e+38 |
| double | Higher Precision Float | 8 Bytes | 1.7e-308 to 1.7e+308 |
Memory requirements or size of data associated with a data type indicates the range of numbers that can be stored in the data item of that type.