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Revised: Sun Mar 27 21:20:50 CDT 2016
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This module is part of a collection of modules designed to help you learn to program computers.
It introduces Java data types.
In addition to an Internet connection and a browser, you will need the following tools (as a minimum) to work through the exercises in these modules:
The minimum prerequisites for understanding the material in these modules include:
I recommend that you open another copy of this document in a separate browser window and use the following links to easily find and view the Figureswhile you are reading about them.
Type-sensitive languages
Java and some other modern programming languages make heavy use of a concept that we refer to as type , or data type .
We refer to those languages as type-sensitive languages . Not all languages are type-sensitive languages. In particular, somelanguages hide the concept of type from the programmer and automatically deal with type issues behind the scenes.
So, what do we mean by type?
One analogy that comes to my mind is international currency. For example, many years ago, I spent a little time in Japan and quite along time on an island named Okinawa (Okinawa is now part of Japan) .
Types of currency
At that time, as now, the type of currency used in the United States was the dollar. The type of currency used in Japan was the yen, and thetype of currency used on the island of Okinawa was also the yen. However, even though two of the currencies had the same name, theywere different types of currency, as determined by the value relationships among them.
The exchange rate
As I recall, at that time, the exchange rate between the Japanese yen and the U.S. dollar was 360 yen for each dollar. The exchange ratebetween the Okinawan yen and the U.S. dollar was 120 yen for each dollar. This suggests that the exchange rate between the Japanese yen and theOkinawan yen would have been 3 Japanese yen for each Okinawan yen.
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