Types of Values
Elements of Programming defines a value to be a sequence of bits, called datum, together with its interpretation. A value type, then, is a correspondence between a set of data and a set of abstract or concrete entities sharing characteristic attributes. The set of entities is sometimes called a species. For example, a value type—call it small_int_value— can establish the correspondence between a sequence of 16 bits and integers values from -32,768 to +32,767 through a two's complement representation.
Value types do not include constraints on how their values are stored. E.g., the type small_int_value in the example above does not determine byte order, alignment, or even the number of 8-bit bytes used to store the 16 bits of the value type's representation. Since the values underpinning value types are not stored, value types also do not include a notion of mutation. A type that does determine constraints for storage in random-access memory is often called an object type.
Read more about this topic: Value Type
Famous quotes containing the words types of, types and/or values:
“... there are two types of happiness and I have chosen that of the murderers. For I am happy. There was a time when I thought I had reached the limit of distress. Beyond that limit, there is a sterile and magnificent happiness.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“... there are two types of happiness and I have chosen that of the murderers. For I am happy. There was a time when I thought I had reached the limit of distress. Beyond that limit, there is a sterile and magnificent happiness.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“Our children need to be able to see us take a stand for a value and against injustices, be those values and injustices in the family room, the boardroom, the classroom, or on the city streets.”
—Barbara Coloroso (20th century)