Lecture 04

Variables, DataTypes and

TypeConversion
Lecture Outline

• Value, Variable and Data Type

• Type Conversion
• Arithmetic Expression Evaluation
• Scope of Variable
Variable

• Variable is used to store a value inside a computer

• A variable is a space in the memory to store a value
• This space is reserved until the variable is required
3 Important Characteristics of Variable

• Type
• How much memory do a variable need.
• This information is determined by a type.
• Name
• How to differentiate a variable with another variable of the same type.
• Name refers to the memory location assigned to this variable.
• Value
• What is the value?
• The actual value contained by a variable.
Variable - Example

• int temperature = 35;

• Type of variable is integer (written as “int” in Java)
• temperature is the name of variable which we will use whenever we want to
access or store the value in it
• 35 is the initial value that we are assigning it at the time of declaration
Variable – Example – Memory View

00000000 Location 0
Locations 0 – 3 are collectively 00000000 Location 1
called as ‘temperature’ 00000000 Location 2
00100011 Location 3
Location 4
100011 is the binary equivalent of 35 Location 5
Variable Type

• Among other advantages a ‘type’ binds the memory to a variable name.

• Java is more strictly typed than either language.
• For example, in C/C++ you can assign a floating-point value to an integer. In
Java, you cannot
• Also, in C/C++, there is not necessarily strong type-checking between a
parameter and an argument. In Java, there is
Primitive Data Types - Numeric

• Whole Numbers

• Floating Point Numbers

Primitive Data Types – Non-Numeric
Relative Comparison of int and double

int numPeople = 2;

Reserves 32 bits (4 bytes)

and sets the value stored
in that space to 2. The name
‘numPeople’ is associated with
this space.

double bill = 32.45;

Reserves 64 bits (8 bytes)

and sets the value stored
in that space to 32.45. The name
‘bill’ is associated with
this space.
Type Conversion

• Java can perform conversion automatically

• int value can be assigned to long
• Depends upon type compatibility
• Not all type conversions implicitly allowed
• Can’t assign a long value to int
• Solution: Casting

• Type casting is when you assign a value of one primitive data type to
another type.
Type Casting

• Assigning a value of one type to a variable of another type is known as

Type Casting.

int x = 10;
byte y = (byte)x;

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Widening or Automatic type converion

Automatic Type casting take place when,

• the two types are compatible
• the target type is larger than the source type

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Example

public class Test { public static void main(String[] args) {

int i = 100;
long l = i; //no explicit type casting required
float f = l; //no explicit type casting required
System.out.println("Int value "+i); System.out.println("Long value "+l);
System.out.println("Float value "+f);
}
}

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 Narrowing or Explicit type conversion

• When you are assigning a larger type value to a variable of smaller type,
then you need to perform explicit type casting.

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Example

public class Test { public static void main(String[] args) { double d =

100.04;
long l = (long)d; //explicit type casting required
int i = (int)l; //explicit type casting required
System.out.println("Double value "+d); System.out.println("Long value
"+l); System.out.println("Int value "+i);
}
}

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Type Casting

• Done when information loss is acceptable.

double x=9.997
int nx= ( int ) x;

Q: what is the value stored in nx?

Introduction to Java

17
Type Casting

• Ans: 9

Q: suppose you want to round the number?

Ans:
double x=9.997
int nx= (int) Math.round (x);

Introduction to Java

18
Conversions

• Illegal to assign a floating-point expression to an integer variable

double balance = 13.75;

int dollars = balance; // Error

Casts: used to convert a value to a different type

int dollars = (int) balance; // OK

Introduction to Java

19
The Math class

• Math class: contains methods like sqrt and pow

• To compute xn, you write Math.pow(x, n)

• However, to compute x2 it is significantly more efficient simply to

compute x * x

• To take the square root of a number, use the Math.sqrt; for example,
Math.sqrt(x)

Introduction to Java

20
Example

• In Java

• can be represented as

(-b + Math.sqrt(b * b - 4 * a * c)) / (2 * a)

Introduction to Java
21
 Mathematical Methods in Java

Math.sqrt(x) square root

Math.pow(x, y) power xy

Math.exp(x) ex

Math.log(x) natural log

Math.sin(x), Math.cos(x), sine, cosine, tangent (x in radian)
Math.tan(x)
Math.round(x) closest integer to x
Math.min(x, y), Math.max(x, y) minimum, maximum

Introduction to Java

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Type Conversion – Widening Conversion

• Narrow data types are converted into broad data type with out loss of
information
• Both types are compatible.
• Numeric types are not compatible with boolean and char
• Destination type is larger than source type.
• Example
• byte -> int
• int -> long

int myInt = 9;

// Automatic casting: int to double

double myDouble = myInt;
Type Conversion – Narrowing Conversion

• Broader data type is converted into narrower data type with loss of
information
• Process is called casting (explicit type conversion)

float x = 3.4f;

int y = x; // Narrowing Conversion, Error

int y = (int) x; // No Error

Permitted Conversions

• byte -> short, int, long, float, or double

• short -> int, long, float, or double
• char -> int, long, float, or double
• int -> long, float, or double
• long -> float or double
• float -> double
Type Conversion in Expressions
Type Conversion in Expressions - Output
Description

• In the first subexpression, f * b, b is promoted to a float and the

result of the subexpression is float.
• Next, in the subexpression i / c, c is promoted to int, and the result
is of type int.
• Then, in d * s, the value of s is promoted to double, and the type of
the subexpression is double.
• Finally, these three intermediate values, float, int, and double, are
considered.
• The outcome of float plus an int is a float. Then the resultant
float minus the last double is promoted to double, which is the
type for the final result of the expression.
Manipulating Variables

• Assignment Statement
• In Mathematics the value x = x + 1 is not possible why?
• In Java x = x +1 is possible because “=” is an assignment operator and not an
equality operator.
• Assignment operator means that the contents of the right hand side is
transferred to the memory location of the left hand side.
• Example:
• X = 5671;
Constants

• Constants are values which cannot be modified e.g. the value of Pi

• To declare a constant in Java, we write a keyword “final” before the
variable type

final double pi = 3.14;

What is the result of this expression?

• 6 + 2 * 3 / 6;
• 7
• 0.5
• 13.0
• 4
Manipulating Values

• Mathematical Operators
• Common mathematical operators are available in Java for manipulating values
e.g. addition(+), subtraction(-), multiplication(*), division(/), and modulus (%)
• Operator Precedence
• Operator precedence controls the order in which operations are performed
• Operator Associativity
• The associativity of an operator specifies the order in which operations of the
same precedence are performed

• Do all multiplications, divisions and remainders from left to right

• Do additions and subtractions from left to right
Scope of Variables

• Most other computer languages define two general categories of

scopes: global and local.
• In Java, the two major scopes are those defined by a class and those
defined by a method.
• The scope defined by a method begins with its opening curly brace.
Non-Primitive Data Types

• So far the variable types that we have studied are primitive data types.
• Primitive data types only have a memory space for storing values.
• However, Object-Oriented Programming is special because OOP has
more variables then just primitive data types.
What Will Happen Here?

float f = 65/10 + 38/10;

System.out.println(f);
Thank You 

Any Questions?