Language Fundamentals

Language Fundamentals

1. Seperators

   • includes parenthesis, braces, brackets, angle brackets, semicolons, colons, commas, and periods

2. Variables

   • types
     • primitive types
       • contains a primitive
     • reference types
       • references an object
   • Identifiers (names)
     • unlimited-length sequence of Java letters/digits (must start with a Java letter)
     • must not be a Java keyword (such as "null")
     • must be unique within its "scope"
     • SHOULD have a lowercase first letter
   • data placeholders

3. Primitives

   • char
   • boolean
   • number primitives (6)
     • byte (8 bits, -128 to 127)
     • short (16 bits)
     • integer (32 bits)
     • long (63 bits)
     • float (single precision floating point)
     • double ( double precision floating point

4. Constants

   • variables with values that can't be changed once assigned
   • declared with the keyword "final"
   • constant names are completely in uppercase, with words separated by underscores ( __ )

5. Literals

   • null literal
   • primitive literal
     • integer literals
       • hexadecimal integers start with 0X/0x, octal integers start with 0
     • floating-point literals
     • boolean literals
     • character literals
   • string literal

6. Encoding Sets

   • ASCII
     • uses latin alphabet
     • used for most input elements in Java
   • Unicode
     • supports characters from multiple alphabets/languages
     • can be used in Java for comments, identifiers, characters, and strings