Values and kinds

A value is a piece of data: the number ၄၂, the letter 'က', the answer "true". Each value has a kind. The kind tells what sort of data the value is and what a program can do with it. Two numbers can be added, but two answers of "true" cannot.

၄၂ ကို ပြသပါ။          // an integer (a whole number)
၃.၁၄ ကို ပြသပါ။        // a decimal number
'က' ကို ပြသပါ။         // a character
မှန် ကို ပြသပါ။         // a true/false value: true
"စာ" ဟု ပြသပါ။         // text in quotes, just for printing

၄၂
၃.၁၄
က
မှန်
စာ

The kinds

Kind	Reads as	Holds	Page
ကိန်းပြည့်	"whole number"	integers: ၀, ၁၈, -၅	Integers
ဒဿမကိန်း	"decimal number"	numbers with a fraction: ၃.၁၄	Decimal numbers
စာလုံး	"letter"	one character: 'က', 'A'	Characters
မှန်မှားတန်ဖိုး	"true/false value"	မှန် (true) or မမှန် (false)	True and false

Text in quotes, such as "စာ", has no kind of its own so far. A program can do nothing with it but print it (see Text in quotes).

The kind matters as soon as a program stores values. The next chapter, Variables, shows how. Each variable is declared with its kind.

Hands on

• Print one value of each kind.
• Print ၃ + ၀.၅. Then print 'က' + ၁ and read the error message.

Next: Integers.