Types.md

Types

• Swift
  

  • In swift, both reference types and value types are supported.

    // Value type example
    struct S { var data: Int = -1 }
    var a = S()
    var b = a						// a is copied to b
    a.data = 42						// Changes a, not b
    println("\(a.data), \(b.data)")	// prints "42, -1"
  

    // Reference type example
    class C { var data: Int = -1 }
    var x = C()
    var y = x						// x is copied to y
    x.data = 42						// changes the instance referred to by x (and y)
    println("\(x.data), \(y.data)")	// prints "42, 42"
  

  Swift goes a step further to categorize into two data types, named types and compound types.

  • A named type is a type that can be given a particular name when it is defined. Named types include classes, structures, enumerations, and protocols
  • A compound type is a type without a name, defined in the Swift language itself. There are two compound types: function types and tuple types.

• Java

  • Value types
    • Java has 8 value types, and you cannot create your own.
      • 8 value types : byte, short, int, long, float, double, boolean, char
  • Reference types
    • All value types made by users are reference types, meaning we as programers can only create objects.

      // Reference type example
      public class Bicycle {
        //Methods / variables go in here
      }
    

    • To be clear, users cannot create value types in Java, unlike swift.
      
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