datatyypin

Datatypin, or the data type, is a fundamental concept in programming and data processing. It is a classification that describes what kind of values a variable can hold, how those values are stored in memory, and which operations are valid on them. Data types help ensure correctness by constraining values and enabling efficient code generation and error detection.

Common data types are grouped as primitive types, such as integers, floating-point numbers, booleans, and characters; and composite types, such as strings, arrays, lists, records/structs, and tuples. Many languages also provide enumerations and user-defined types like classes or interfaces. Type systems may be static or dynamic, and they may be strong or weak. Static typing checks types at compile time; dynamic typing checks at runtime. Some languages support type inference, generics, and advanced features like algebraic data types or polymorphic interfaces.

In practice, data types influence memory usage, value ranges, and the set of permissible operations (for example, arithmetic on numbers, concatenation on strings, indexing on arrays). They also affect interoperability, such as type casting and conversions, which may be implicit or explicit.

Databases assign data types to columns (for example, INT, VARCHAR, DATE, DECIMAL) to enforce data integrity and optimize storage and queries. In data exchange formats like JSON or XML, data types map to language-specific representations and may require conversion during deserialization.

The term datatyypin is the Finnic form of 'data type' and is used in Finnish-language programming contexts to denote the same concept.