Starting in Java

Posted by Paloma Mendez on July 4, 2021

While my other projects are coming to a swift close, I began to think about what my next step should be in my coding journey. I have many different options in terms of project ideas and different applications for them. For example, I am in the middle of planning for my wedding and could really use an app that could help me organize my progress and payments. Sure, excell could suffice, but there is a good opportunity to practice object oriented programming.

For this, I also thought it would be a good idea to incorporate a different language. I had tried to take up Java before, and now that I don’t have to spend so much time with my volunteer projects, I can focus on reviewing my knowledge and even continue to learn Java. Below I have some notes about the different datatypes and how Java interprets them:

int myNum = 5;               // Integer (whole number)
float myFloatNum = 5.99f;    // Floating point number
char myLetter = 'D';         // Character
boolean myBool = true;       // Boolean
String myText = "Hello";     // String

Data types are divided into two groups:

Primitive data types - includes byte, short, int, long, float, double, boolean and char

byte	1 byte	Stores whole numbers from -128 to 127
short	2 bytes	Stores whole numbers from -32,768 to 32,767
int	4 bytes	Stores whole numbers from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647
long	8 bytes	Stores whole numbers from -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 9,223,372,036,854,775,807
float	4 bytes	Stores fractional numbers. Sufficient for storing 6 to 7 decimal digits
double	8 bytes	Stores fractional numbers. Sufficient for storing 15 decimal digits
boolean	1 bit	Stores true or false values
char	2 bytes	Stores a single character/letter or ASCII values

Non-primitive data types - such as String, Arrays and Classes (you will learn more about these in a later chapter)

For more detailed descriptions, you can go here to find out more!