Question

Data Types

Selecting the correct data type for your application is critical - Please select at least two different data types and offer a description of the data type in your own words and offer an example of how/why you would use the selected data type.

Answer 1

The data types I would choose are INT and FLOAT

INT - As the name suggest INT stands for integers, and it is used to store integer values in a computer. The size of the INT varies typically from 16-31 bits depending on the compiler being used. The format of storing an integer is extremely simple. It consists of one bit to decide the sign and the others to decide the value.

An example of using this data type is to save the number of students in class. Different classes in a school would have a different number of students but the number would always be an integer.

FLOAT - FLOAT is a data type used to save decimal number. INT can only save whole numbers, while FLOAT can save any real number. It might be misleading to think that INT is a subset of FLOAT, and INT isnt required as FLOAT can complete all the work that INT does. This is because of two major reasons. FLOAT occupies a space of around 32-64 bits in computer, a large chunk of memory is allocated every time a FLOAT is used. Also the FLOAT structure , apart from the sign bit , includes an exponent and fractional bits too which make its processing slower, compared to the simpler INT structure. FLOAT should only be used in places where decimal precision is required.

An example of using this data type would be to save numbers that are the outputs of mathematical operations like division, multiplication etc. While saving the price of a book in a book store, the decimal is gonna matter a lot, since the error would be multiplied across all the books sold.