What is a definition of data types?

Answer 1

A data type is, well, the type of data. The most common types are strings (text with spaces, punctuation, etc), integers (whole numbers within a certain range, depending on the specific type), and decimal numbers (1.7). Depending on the database software, there will be many other types.

Answer 2

The data type for an object is simply its class. Classes allow you to create new data types. For example, Java has built-in (or primitive) data types for integers and floating-point numbers, among others; but it has no built-in (primitive) data type for dates. So, through a class, you create a new type of data, for dates. Actually, those already come with the Java classes, so it is more likely that you will use that, instead of programming your own - except for some quick practice.

Anyway, in the Date class, or perhaps better in the Calendar class, there are definitions what data should be stored for a date should have (a year, a month, and a date), and - through its methods - what operations should be allowed on a date; for example, add a certain number of days to an existing date. All this defines a new data type, for dates.

Similarly, you can define classes (or use classes defined by somebody else) for complex numbers; points in a 2-dimensional plane or in a 3-dimensional space; fonts; etc., and all kinds of "things" that are referenced in a business, and that must somehow be programmed - for example, "client", "product", or "invoice". When you define a class for each of these, you are basically creating a new data type.

Answer 3

In computer programming, a data type determines how a binary representation should be interpreted. For example, the binary value 10110100 has the decimal value 180, however if the data type were a signed type then its value would be -76. The symbolic representation (the binary value) doesn't change, but the interpretation of the symbol changes according to whichever data type is associated with the representation.

The data type also specifies the type's length (in bytes) and which operations are applicable to the type. For instance, we can perform arithmetic upon all numeric types, but it doesn't make sense to perform arithmetic operations upon a piece of text or other non-numeric data type.

Answer 4

A data type in a programming language is a set of data with values having predefined characteristics. Examples :- floating point unit number