Chapter 2 Primary Data Types

Question 1

What is RAM and what is it composed of?

Answer 1

Random Access Memory is a computer’s short-term memory or volatile memory. It is composed of fixed-size cells, with each cell number referenced through an address.

Question 2

What are common variable characteristics?

Answer 2

Name: Variable name used to reference data in program code
Type: Number, character, etc.
Value: Data value assigned to variable’s memory location
Address: Assigned to variable, which points to a memory cell location

Question 3

What are two actions needed to create variables?

Answer 3

Declare (int x;) and initialize (x = 0;)

Question 4

What is needed when assigning character data to character variables?

Answer 4

Character data must be enclosed in single quotes (‘), AKA tick marks or apostrophes.

Question 5

What is the keyword for integer data types?

Answer 5

int

Question 6

What is the keyword for character data types?

Answer 6

char

Question 7

What is the keyword for floating-point number?

Answer 7

float

Question 8

What is the difference between int, char, and float data types?

Answer 8

Integer data types consist of positive and negative whole numbers.

Character data types consist of ASCII character sets that represent integer values (e.g., character code 90 = Z)

Floating-point numbers consist of large and small, positive and negative decimal numbers (09.4543)

Question 9

What is the ASCII?

Answer 9

American Standard Code for Information Interchange

Question 10

What are conversion specifiers?

Answer 10

They tell the program how to display the variable and their corresponding data types.

Question 11

What are common conversion specifiers?

Answer 11

%d = Displays signed integer value
%f = Displays signed floating-point value
%c = Displays single character value

Question 12

What are constant data types?

Answer 12

Read-only variables that cannot lose their data values during program execution.

Question 13

What are common rules for naming variables?

Answer 13

1. Begin with lowercase letter
2. No spaces
3. Only letters, numbers, and underscores (_)
4. Fewer than 31 characters (ANSI C standard)

Question 14

What are best practice programming conventions and styles?

Answer 14

1. Use of white space should be consistent
2. Appropriate usage of upper and lower case letters
3. Self-documenting variable names (data type prefix & purpose)

Question 15

What does the scanf(0) function do?

Answer 15

Reads standard input from the keyboard and stores it in previously declared variables

Question 16

What operator is required when using the scanf() function?

Answer 16

The address (pointer) operator “&”

Question 17

What is the correct way to state the “=” operator?

Answer 17

It is an “assignment” operator rather than “equals”

Question 18

What are some common unstructured numeric data types?

Answer 18

integers and floating-point numbers

Question 19

What are some common unstructured non-numeric data types?

Answer 19

character and boolean

Question 20

What are some common structured data types?

Answer 20

arrays, structures, classes, and files

Question 21

What is the Negation operator in reference to logical operators?

Answer 21

The Negation operator is the “!” which is used on Boolean variables that causes the variable to flip its Boolean assignment.

If x = true, then !x = false

Question 22

What are the 6 relational operators?

Answer 22

1. Equality (==)
2. Inequality (!=)
3. Greater than (>)
4. Greater than or equal to (>=)
5. Less than (

Question 23

What is the difference between = and ==?

Answer 23

= is the assignment operator when assigning values to variables.

== is the Boolean equality operator to verify if two operands are equal.