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In computer programming, information is stored in a computer memory with different data types. We must
know what is to be stored in a computer memory, whether it is a simple number, a letter or a very large number.
As we also know, computer memory is organized in bytes, and for these variables with varying information a data
type is associated. The minimum amount of memory in computer memory is a byte that can store a small amount
of data and managed easily. Every variable is declared with two entities, its type and its name. The fundamental
data types in C++ are the basic building blocks for creating other data types. There are five basic classifications
that form the foundation of the fundamental types: characters, integers, floating-point numbers, booleans, and
the void type.
1. Characters
The character type has two basic variants: one of ACSII characters and one for Unicode
characters. The char type is used to store 8 bit characters according to the specification in the ASCII table.
The wchar_t type is used to store 16 bit characters according to the Unicode specification for UTF 16. The
actual values stored in these data types are integers whose values are seldom used directly. However, due to the
legacy usage of C/C++, there are three specifications for the char type: char, signed char, and unsigned char
2. Integers
The integer type has three distinct sizes: 16 bit, 32 bit and 64 bit. You could also add in
the char type as an 8 bit variant. Each different size can store a corresponding range of integer values and each
has a signed and unsigned variant. Many of these have multiple names that can be used to specify it.
3. Floating-Point Numbers
The floating point number type has two distinct sizes: 32 bit and 64 bit. The 32 bit variant is
specified by the name float and the 64 bit number is specified by the name double. The double has uses twice
the memory to give a range of values and greater precision. As memory in computers has grown, the float type
has fallen out of usage in numerical programming, and virtually everyone uses the double type now.
4. Booleans
The only Boolean type is the bool data type. This is used to represent the two logical
values true and false.
5. Void
There is one Void type called void, it is not really a data type at all. It is used to specify that no
type is used. Otherwise, it can be used as a pointer type to indicate that the type is unknown.
Type
Range
Size *
Character
char
[-128, 127]
1 byte
signed char
[-128, 127]
1 byte
Category
Type
Range
Size *
unsigned char
[0,255]
1 byte
wchar_t
[0, 65535]
2 bytes
short
[-32768, 32767]
2 bytes
short int
[-32768, 32767]
2 bytes
[-32768, 32767]
2 bytes
signed
[-2147483648, 2147483647]
4 bytes
signed int
[-2147483648, 2147483647]
4 bytes
int
[-2147483648, 2147483647]
4 bytes
long
[-2147483648, 2147483647]
4 bytes
long int
[-2147483648, 2147483647]
4 bytes
[-2147483648, 2147483647]
4 bytes
long long
[-9223372036854775808,
9223372036854775807]
8 bytes
unsigned short
[0, 65535]
2 bytes
[0, 65535]
2 bytes
unsigned
[0, 4294967295]
4 bytes
unsigned int
[0, 4294967295]
4 bytes
unsigned long
[0, 4294967295]
4 bytes
[0, 4294967295]
4 bytes
[0, 18446744073709551615]
8 bytes
float
[-3.4*10^38, 3.4*10^38]
(7 decimal place accuracy)
4 bytes
double
[-1.7*10^308, 1.7*10^308]
(15 decimal place accuracy)
8 bytes
long double
[-1.7*10^308, 1.7*10^308]
(15 decimal place accuracy)
8 bytes
Boolean
bool
{true, false}
1 byte
Void
void
Integer
Floating Point