Programming Primitive Data Types (Edexcel GCSE Computer Science)

Programming Primitive Data Types

• Section 1 covers the basics of different data types

• The exam requires students to be able to write programs that make use of all primitive data types

• To recap, the main data types are:

  • Integer

  • Real

  • Boolean

  • Character

Programming integers

• An integer is a whole number (negative or positive)

• An example of an integer is 5

  • number = 5

  • numberOne = int(input("Enter a number"))

Programming reals

• A real (also known as a float) is a decimal number

• An example of a real is 3.4

  • realNumber = 3.4

  • price = float(input("Enter a number"))

Programming Boolean

• A Boolean (also known as a bool) can be either True or False

• An example of a bool is True

  • lightSensor = bool()

  • lightSensor = True

Programming characters

• A character (also known as a char) is a single letter, number or symbol

• An example of an character is "a"

  • firstNameInitial = str()

  • firstNameInitial = "a"