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Scalar Types

A scalar is a single unit of data. Scalar data types are single-valued data types, that can be used for individual variables, constants, etc.

Recall the elementary types that we saw earlier:

STRING is a bit of a hybrid. A string is made up of multiple characters, that can be manipulated individually. It still counts as a scalar type, though, since a string can be treated as a single data value.

Ada programmers are not limited to the above built-in types. You can define your own types. They can be structured types, which combine multiple data items into a larger unit, or they can be scalar (single-valued) types.

Scalar types can be:

Each distinct type needs its own I/O library.


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c-lokan@adfa.oz.au / 21 Feb 96