Just say 'A Class Defines a Data Type'

data type and (Java) class, asking about the relationship between them. The same students would also be unlikely to find an answer in a CS1 textbook. Some textbooks might not even contain ke data type, abstract data type, or type. Yet the study of data types is fundamentally important to learning programming with a typed programming language. Moreover, if novices do not learn data types the right way--consistent across different data types and programming paradigms--some would face insurmountable difficulty learning object-oriented programming, no matter when they learn it. Without a proper characterization of data type, the textbook, as well as the instructor, would be fundamentally challenged to present everything else effectively or even correctly, no matter which approach they took. When associating the concept of data type and a computing language, a correct definition should be consistent with the following: A data type characterizes how a set of entities is internally represente...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: CACM
• Authors: Chenglie Hu
• Keywords: Abstract Data Types, CACM 2008, Data Type, Programming