04-data-types.

md 3/19/2023

Data Types
We're going to spend a little time on data types. When we create a variable, the data that we define has a
type. There are primitive types and reference types. The big difference under the hood is the way that
they're stored and accessed from memory.

1. Primitive Types - Stored directly in the location that the variables is accessed
2. Reference Types (Objects) - Accessed by reference

Primitive Data Types

That may not make much sense right now, but in the next video I'm going to go more in depth on how this
works under the hood. So first well talk about the 7 primitive types of JavaScript.

The 7 primitive data types are the following

String - a sequence of characters. In JavaScript, strings can be enclosed within the single or double
quotes
Number - Represent both integer and floating-point numbers
Boolean - Represent a logical entity and can have two values: true or false
Null - Represents the intentional absence of any object value
Undefined - A variable that has not been assigned a value is undefined.
Symbol - It is a built-in object whose constructor returns a symbol-that is unique
BigInt - New data type used for numbers that are greater than the Number type can handle.

Dynamic vs Static Types

JavaScript is a "dynamically-typed" language. This means that when we create a variable or a function, we
don't explicitly assign the type. JavaScript assigns the type of that value dynamically. In other words, the type
is associated with the value, not the variable. So you can have a variable value be a string and then later in
the script, change it to a number. You probably won't do that very often, but you can.

There are other languages that are "statically-typed". This is where you would explicitly define the type of
data. Java is an example of a statically-typed language. There's also a language called TypeScript, which is
essentially JavaScript with some extra features, including types. So is TypeScript, you could do this.

const y:number = 100

You can see we defined it as a number. So now that y variable's value HAS to always be a number.

This is not something we can do with vanilla JavaScript. The advantage of static types is that it makes your
code more robust and less prone to errors. The downside is you need to write a bit more code.

Assigning Variables
String

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A string is a "string" of characters wrapped in either single or double quotes. Strings can include any number,
letter or symbol

const firstName = 'Sara';

Number

Any number in JavaScript is the Number type, including floats and decimals. Some languages have separate
types for floats and integers. JavaScript does not. Numbers are not wrapped in quotes.

const age = 30;

const temp = 98.9

Boolean

A boolean is a true or false value

const hasKids = true;

Null

Intentional absence

const aptNumber = null;

Undefined

Undefined represents a variable that has not been defined a value.

let score;
const score = undefined;

Symbol

A “symbol” represents a unique identifier. We will talk more about what they are used for later, but this is how
we can create one

const id = Symbol('id');

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BigInt

BigInt is a new primitive type and represents integers that are out of the range of the Number type

const n = 9007199254740991n;

typeof Operator

To check the type of a variable in JavaScript, you can use the typeof operator

console.log(typeof name)

Tip: If you run typeof on a variable that holds null, you will not get null, you will get object. This is generally
regarded as a mistake. More info here

console.log(typeof aptNumber)

Reference Data Types (Objects)

We talked about the primitive data types that are stored directly in memory where they are accessed.
Reference types work a little differently under the hood. There are basically 3 types that are passed by
reference

Arrays
Functions
Objects

Technically, these are all "objects", meaning that they have properties and methods.

Reference types or "objects" are a non-primitive value and when assigned to a variable, the variable is given a
reference to that value. The reference points to the object's location in memory. Unlike primitives, where the
variable contains the actual value. I'll talk more about this in the next video.

Arrays

I know we haven't gone over arrays yet so don't worry if you've never worked with them. They're essentially a
data structure that can hold multiple values.

So if we write

const numbers = [1,2,3,4]

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We have created an array in memory and a variable that points to the address or location of that array.

Object Literals

Objects are comma separated lists of name-value pairs. We'll get into them later, but just to give you an
example here

{
name: 'John',
age: 30
}

Functions

Functions are also objects in JavaScript. They can have properties and methods. What distinguishes them
from other objects is that they can be called.

const sayHello = function() {

return 'Hello';
}

sayHello()

If we check the type with typeof, we'll get "object" for arrays and object literals, but we actually get "function"
for a function. This is still an object, it's just identified as a function object, which can be called as you can see
here

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