C# Data Types

In C#, variables are categorized into the following types:

• Value types - contain data.
• Reference types - contain a reference to the variables.
• Pointer types - store the memory address of another type.
   
  Value types –Available value types are: Integral Types, Float point types, Decimal, char, Boolean
  Integral Types

Type	No of bit	Signed	Range	Default
sbyte	8	yes	-128 to 127	0
byte	8	no	0 to 255	0
short	16	yes	-32,768 to 32,767	0
ushort	16	no	0 to 65,535	0
int	32	yes	-2147483648 to 2147483647	0
uint	32	no	0 to 4294967295	0
long	64	yes	-923372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807	0L
ulong	64	no	0 to 18446744073709551615	0

 

Floating-point and Decimal Types

Type	No of bit	Range	Default
float	32	-3.4 x 1038 to + 3.4 x 1038	0.0F
double	64	(+/-)5.0 x 10-324 to (+/-)1.7 x 10308	0.0D
Decimal (mainly used for bank)	128	(-7.9 x 1028 to 7.9 x 1028) / 100 to 28	0.0M

 

Character and Boolean types

Type	No of bit	Range	Default
char	16	U +0000 to U +ffff	'\0'
Bool	8	True/ false	False

 

Note:

• sizeof(type) yield the size of an object
   

Reference types – Available Reference types are object, dynamic and string.

Object Type- Object types can be assigned values of any other types. However, before assigning values, it needs type conversion.

Boxing - Value type is converted to object type

Unboxing - Object type is converted to a value type

int i = 123;      // a value type

object var = i;     // boxing

int j = (int)var;  // unboxing

 

Dynamic Types -Any type of value is stored in the dynamic data type variable. Only at runtime type checking of theses variable take place.

Eg dynamic d = 10;

 

String Type-Any string values can be assigned to a variable

String str = "Hello";

 

Pointer Type -Store the memory address of another type.

Eg int* var;