Chapter 6: The Primitive Types and Their InputOutput

OVERVIEW

The primitives types are the variables that are declared to hold integer, character, floating-point, and boolean values. The first half of this chapter deals mainly with representational issues concerning the primitive types. But before getting into how the primitives types are represented, especially from the standpoint of differences between C++ and Java, we will address briefly the issue of what names can be used for variables in general.

The second half of this chapter discusses the input/output stream classes in C++ and Java. Although the focus will be primarily on the I/O of the primitive types, we will also discuss where appropriate the use of the C++ and Java streams for the input/output of the string type. The direct I/O for class-type objects will be discussed briefly as a part of the discussion in one of the homework problems.