7.1. The Java Value Type

The Java value type is also known as the primitive data type. Table 7.1 shows the Java primitives.

Variables can be declared as a primitive type. Depending on the scope where they are declared, they must be initialized. For example, you must initialize local method variables as shown here:

int age = 10;
long population = 100000L;
float price = 12.45f;
double count = 6.45d;

Suffixing a float literal with f or F or a long literal with l or L improves the clarity of the code, although it is not required. Primitive data types are passed by value, so changes made to the primitive's value inside a method are local to that method and are not retained after the method call completes.