literalsto
Literals are fundamental elements in programming languages that represent fixed values. They are the most basic way to embed data directly into source code. Common types of literals include numeric literals, character literals, string literals, and boolean literals. Numeric literals represent numbers, such as integers (e.g., 10, -5) and floating-point numbers (e.g., 3.14, -0.01). Character literals represent a single character enclosed in single quotes (e.g., 'a', '?'). String literals represent a sequence of characters enclosed in double quotes (e.g., "hello", "world"). Boolean literals represent truth values, typically true or false. The specific syntax for literals can vary between programming languages. For instance, some languages distinguish between integer and floating-point literals through syntax (e.g., 10 vs. 10.0), while others might infer the type. Understanding literals is crucial for writing code as they form the building blocks of data manipulation and expression evaluation within a program. They are the direct representation of constant values that a program operates on.