CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javaterminology
sens_epro
sens_epro

Reputation: 399

What is the difference between data types and literals in Java?

What is the difference between data types and literals in Java?

Upvotes: 37

Views: 50840

Answers (10)

Bhargav ram
Bhargav ram

Reputation: 31

A literal is a fixed value that is assigned to a variable (of a specific data type) directly without using a constructor

For eg:

String var1 = "Java"; -- here "Java" is a literal

String var2 = new String("Java"); -- here "Java" is not a literal

Upvotes: 2

Sachindra N. Pandey
Sachindra N. Pandey

Reputation: 1252

Int (Data type) x (Variable) = 100 (Literals) ;

Data type :- Data type means type of data ,it may be byte, short, int , long, float , double ,char boolean and many other user defined type(Class) like Employee, Student etc...

Literals :- The value we assign to variable is called Literal . e.g:- String str= "India"; Here "india" is string Literal .
Literals are fixed value for a variable until they are not assign by other variable.

true , false and null are reserved word in java. Technically they are literals values and not keywords .However they can not be used as Identifier because they have specific meaning to the java Compiler.

Upvotes: 4

Yel
Yel

Reputation: 101

Data Type: Are nothing but a reserved memory location to store values. meaning when you create a variable you reserve some space in memory.

Literal: Is the source code representation of a fixed value, a Given or Constant value. Ex: boolean result = true, String s1 = "Hello World".

boolean - is data type, result - is variable, true - is literal

String - is Object data type, s1 - is variable, "Hello World" - is literal

Upvotes: 2

stacker
stacker

Reputation: 68942

A literal is a constant value which is compatible to a datatype, a literal is used to assign a value to variable, to compare values or define constants. See JLS 3.10.

e.g:

int varOfDataTypeInt = 123;

String s = "string literal";

Upvotes: 4

Mohammed Mohammed
Mohammed Mohammed

Reputation: 413

Values like 1.5, 2, 3.13, “hello” that appear directly in a program are known as literals.

Upvotes: 5

user528050
user528050

Reputation: 157

Data Type : it defines the memory assignment for different "types" available in java.

source http://javawebtutorial.blogspot.in/2013/10/data-types-in-java-as-you-all-know-that.html

Literals : Literals in java define the actual value we can using for variables, constants or to perform any operation.

source : http://javawebtutorial.blogspot.in/2013/10/literals-in-java-literals-in-java.html

Upvotes: 0

Tyler
Tyler

Reputation: 22116

Data types are just, well, different types of data, like Strings or floats or ArrayLists. In Java, most data types are classes. Edit although according to one of the other answers, I think maybe the term "data type" might be used more for primitives, i.e. types that are not classes.

A literal is a way of expressing a value without having to create it using a constructor. For example, if you just put 3 in your code, it means the int 3. You don't have to say new Integer(3) or anything like that.

By the way, may I recommend the official Java Tutorials.

Upvotes: 1

user467871
user467871

Reputation:

From Java Data types tutorial

Data types :

Primitive types are special data types built into the language; they are not objects created from a class

Literal :

A Literal is the source code representation of a fixed value; literals are represented directly in your code without requiring computation

boolean result = true;

boolean - is data type
true - is literal

Upvotes: 46

Andreas Dolk
Andreas Dolk

Reputation: 114767

 String string = "Hello World";
 <  1 > <  2 >   <     3     >

1 is a data type, 2 a variable name, 3 a (String) literal

From the JLS:

A literal is the source code representation of a value of a primitive type [like 1, true, 't'or 1.2f], the String type [like "" or Something], or the null type [null]

Upvotes: 21

Thilo
Thilo

Reputation: 262474

I don't know that they have enough in common to be able to identify differences, but data types are things like int, float[], Object, and literals are something like 1, { 1.0f, 2.0f}, "abcdef".

Upvotes: 5

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