Induwara: Hey Daniel! I was going through the basics of Java, and I got to primitive data types. They seem pretty fundamental. Daniel: Hey Induwara! Yeah, they are essential. Java has eight primitive data types. Do you remember them all? Induwara: I think so! There’s byte, short, int, long, float, double, char, and boolean, right? Daniel: Exactly! Each one serves a different purpose. For example, byte is great for saving memory in large arrays where the memory savings actually matter. Induwara: Right! And int is often used for numbers. What about long? Daniel: Good question! long is used for larger integers. It can hold values from about -9 quintillion to 9 quintillion. It’s useful when you need to store big numbers. Induwara: I see! And what about floating-point numbers? Daniel: For those, we use float and double. float is a single-precision 32-bit IEEE 754 floating point, while double is double-precision and offers more precision and a larger range. Induwara: Got it! I’ve also read about char. It’s for storing single characters, right? Daniel: Yes! It’s a 16-bit Unicode character, so it can represent characters from different languages as well. Induwara: And then there's boolean, which can only hold true or false values. That’s used a lot for conditions, isn’t it? Daniel: Exactly! It’s crucial for controlling the flow of the program with conditionals like if statements. Induwara: This is really helpful! Thanks for breaking it down, Daniel. I feel more confident about these data types now. Daniel: No problem! Happy to help. Let’s keep practicing with some examples to solidify your understanding!
