Data Types and Values
Every piece of information has a kind — let's meet them
Big Idea: A computer stores lots of values — a score, a name, a yes-or-no answer. Every value has a type. The type tells the computer what kind of thing it is and what it can do with it.
By the end you will be able to:
- say what a value and a type are,
- name the three main types: number, text, and true/false,
- explain why
"5"(text) is not the same as5(a number).
1. What is a value?
A value is a single piece of information the computer is holding right now. Your game score is a value. Your name is a value. Whether the light is on or off is a value.
Think of a computer's memory as a wall of tiny boxes. Each box can hold one value. When the game says your score is 7, one little box is holding the value 7.
A value is the thing itself — the number 7, the word "cat", the answer "yes". A type is what kind of thing it is.
2. The three main types
Values come in different types. When you are starting out, three types matter most:
| Type | What it holds | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Number | amounts you can count or measure, and do math with | 5, 42, 3.14 |
| Text (also called a string) | letters, words, and symbols written down | "cat", "Hello!", "5" |
| True/False (also called a boolean) | a yes-or-no answer — only two choices | true, false |
Text is often written inside quotation marks like "cat", so the computer knows where the words begin and end.