data types in c

In the C programming language, data types 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:

1	Basic Types: They are arithmetic types and consists of the two types: (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 be assigned 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.

Integer Types

Following table gives you details about standard integer types with its storage sizes and value ranges:

Type	Storage size	Value range
char	1 byte	-128 to 127 or 0 to 255
unsigned char	1 byte	0 to 255
signed char	1 byte	-128 to 127
int	2 or 4 bytes	-32,768 to 32,767 or -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647
unsigned int	2 or 4 bytes	0 to 65,535 or 0 to 4,294,967,295
short	2 bytes	-32,768 to 32,767
unsigned short	2 bytes	0 to 65,535
long	4 bytes	-2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647
unsigned long	4 bytes	0 to 4,294,967,295

Floating-Point Types

Following table gives you details about standard floating-point types with storage sizes and value ranges and their precision:

Type	Storage size	Value range	Precision
float	4 byte	1.2E-38 to 3.4E+38	6 decimal places
double	8 byte	2.3E-308 to 1.7E+308	15 decimal places
long double	10 byte	3.4E-4932 to 1.1E+4932	19 decimal places

The header file float.h defines macros that allow you to use these values .

The void Type

The void type specifies that no value is available. It is used in three kinds of situations:

S.N.	Types and Description
1	Function returns as void There are various functions in C which do not return 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 as 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.