From the July 2010 Issue of Prestwood eMag

Coder General Coding Concepts: Programming Literals By Mike Prestwood

Posted 15 years ago on 1/17/2009 Take Away: A value directly written into the source code of a computer program (as opposed to an identifier like a variable or constant). Literals cannot be changed. Common types of literals include string literals, floating point literals, integer literals, and hexidemal literals. Literal strings are usually either quoted (") or use an apostrophe (') which is often referred to as a single quote. Sometimes quotes are inaccurately referred to as double quotes. Coder Definition Flashcard:  To/From Code Guide: Programming Literals (Coding &... Language Examples  A flashcard from our Coder Flashcards Library  A definition from our Coder Definitions Page  Tags: Programming Literals Literal Defined Definition Meaning KB101817

Floating Point Literals

A floating point literal are numbers that have a decimal point or an exponential part. Some languages, such as Java, follow the IEEE 754 Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic standard.

Floating Point 'Equality' Problem

Because computers have trouble representing floating point values, you may want to reserve the use of floating point literals for imprecise measurements such length, height, weight, etc. The very nature of measurements is imprecise.

• Refer to our Round Floating Point Numbers tip post for more information.

More Info

Code:	Access VBA Literals (quote)
Code:	ASP Classic Literals (quote)
Code:	C# Literals (quote)
Code:	C++ Literals (quote)
Code:	C++/CLI Literals (qoute)
Code:	Delphi Literals (apostrophe)
Code:	Delphi Prism Literals (quote or apostrophe)
Code:	Java Literals (quote)
Code:	JavaScript Literals (quote or apostrophe)
Code:	ObjectPAL Literals (quote)
Code:	Perl Literals (quote)
Code:	PHP Literals (quote or apostrophe)
Code:	VB Classic Literals (quote)
Code:	VB.Net Literals (quote)

PS_4295

Comment 1 of 2 According to the IEEE 754 Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic drift boss standard some programming languages such as Java are used. Posted 7 months ago

PS_4298

Comment 2 of 2 Because computers struggle Doodle Jump to represent floating point values you may want to reserve the use of floating point literals.  Posted 7 months ago

Definition Contributed By Mike Prestwood:

Mike Prestwood is a drummer, an author, and creator of the PrestwoodBoards online community. He is the President & CEO of Prestwood IT Solutions. Prestwood IT provides Coding, Website, and Computer Tech services. Mike has authored 6 computer books and over 1,200 articles. As a drummer, he maintains play-drums.com and has authored 3 drum books. If you have a project you wish to discuss with Mike, you can send him a private message through his PrestwoodBoards home page or call him 9AM to 4PM PST at 916-726-5675 x205. Visit Profile