Chapter 2. Basic types
This chapter covers
- Common primitive types and their uses
- How Boolean expressions are evaluated
- Pitfalls of numerical types and text encoding
- Fundamental types for building data structures
Computers represent data internally as sequences of bits. Types give meaning to these sequences. At the same time, types restrict the range of possible values any piece of data can take. Type systems provide a set of primitive or built-in types and a set of rules for combining these types.
In this chapter we will look at some of the commonly available primitive types (empty, unit, Booleans, numbers, strings, arrays, and references), their uses, and common pitfalls to be aware of. Although we use primitive types every day, each comes ...
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