byte data type in Java
byte is a data type similar to int. That’s, it’s a type of integer data type. The difference is that Java uses 8 bits of memory to store a byte while int uses 32 bits of memory. This explains why it’s called a byte because 8 bits make up one byte.
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- The byte data type is an integer.
- byte comprises 8 bits of memory
- If the value you assign to a byte variable is out of the range of the byte data, that’s -128 to 127, the value is converted to int
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byte is a primitive data type. It is similar to int data type. That’s, it’s a type of integer data type. The difference is that Java uses 8 bits of memory to store a byte while int uses 32 bits of memory. This explains why it’s called a byte because 8 bits make up one byte.
The memory size of a byte is small. A byte can hold only values from -128 to 127.
Most identifiers, particularly variable literals, are declared as int because of its comparatively wide range.
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Declaring a byte variable
A byte variable is declared just as an int variable. Examples include:
byte age;
byte height;
byte weight;
Alternatively, you can also declare all byte variables in a row. That’s,
byte age, height, weight;
Like an int, the default value of a byte is 0.
Program demonstrates byte data type
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//Program demonstrates the byte primitive data type public class ByteVariable { public static void main(String[] args) { byte amount=40; //'amount' is a byte data type. Its value,40,is in byte range (-128 to 127) byte remaining = -30; //'remaining' is a byte. Its value is in byte range (-128 to 127) System.out.println("My account balance used to be $" + amount + " but it's now " + remaining); } } |
Output
NOTE: If the value you assign to a byte variable is out of the range of the byte data, that’s -128 to 127, Java treats the value as an int. Example,
byte amount=400; //Error! mismatch here
amount is a byte but 400 is beyond the range of a byte (9128 to 127). The Java compiler, thus, treats 400 as an int data type as a result. And an int value (with a bigger range of memory) cannot be assigned to or stored in a byte data type (of small memory). Hence, error occurs.
Futhermore, Java is a strongly typed Programming language. That’s, everything on the left and right of the assignment operator (equal sign) must match.
Like all other primitive data types, the print and println methods can print the byte data type.
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