Types: char and boolean

After learning about the double and float types, it’s time to dive into two other essential primitive types in Java: char and boolean. Ready to explore?

The char Type

The char type is ideal for representing a single Unicode character. This means you can store any character—letters, numbers, or symbols—using it. There are two ways to assign a value to a char variable:

1. Using single quotes, like 'A', 'Ω', or 'B'.
2. Using a numeric value, corresponding to the character in the Unicode table. For example, the code below stores the letter "A" using its Unicode value:

char letterA = 65;

Want to see char in action? Check out this example:

public class PrimitiveTypes {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        char letterA = 'a';
        char capitalA = 'A';
        System.out.println(letterA); // a
        System.out.println(capitalA); // A
    }
}

The boolean Type

The boolean type is one of the simplest—and most useful! It represents only two possible values:

• true
• false

This variable type is essential for making decisions and controlling the program's flow, especially with conditionals like if and while. In Java, unlike some other languages where 0 and 1 are used to represent false and true, we explicitly use true and false.

An interesting detail is that boolean variables often have names that resemble questions. Internationally, they typically start with "is," while in some contexts, prefixes like "eh" might be used. Examples:

public class PrimitiveTypes {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        boolean isJavaFun = true; // Examples: isRunning, isActive
        boolean isAdult = false; // Examples: isTrue, isReady
    }
}

Now that you know how these types work, you can use them to make your code more intuitive and functional!