Data types used in c…
Following are the various types of data used in c language.it’s important for anyone to be a good programmer to have a basic knowledge of these data types, their size and type of format they used.
Data types in c refer to an extensive system used for declaring variables or functions of different types. The type of a variable determines how much space it occupies in storage and how the bit pattern stored is interpreted.
The types in C can be classified as follows −
| S.N. | Types & Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Basic Types
They are arithmetic types and are further classified into: (a) integer types and (b) floating-point types. |
| 2 | Enumerated types
They are again arithmetic types and they are used to define variables that can only assign certain discrete integer values throughout the program. |
| 3 | The type void
The type specifier void indicates that no value is available. |
| 4 | Derived types
They include (a) Pointer types, (b) Array types, (c) Structure types, (d) Union types and (e) Function types. |
The array types and structure types are referred collectively as the aggregate types. The type of a function specifies the type of the function’s return value. We will see the basic types in the following section.
The void Type
The void type specifies that no value is available. It is used in three kinds of situations −
| S.N. | Types & Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Function returns as void
There are various functions in C which do not return any value or you can say they return void. A function with no return value has the return type as void. For example, void exit (int status); |
| 2 | Function arguments as void
There are various functions in C which do not accept any parameter. A function with no parameter can accept a void. For example, int rand(void); |
| 3 | Pointers to void
A pointer of type void * represents the address of an object, but not its type. For example, a memory allocation function void *malloc( size_t size ); returns a pointer to void which can be casted to any data type. |