TAL Reference Summary

Data Types

096256 Tandem Computers Incorporated 9

Data Types When you declare most kinds of variables, you specify a data type. The data type

determines:

The kind of values the variable can represent

The amount of storage the compiler allocates for the variable

The operations you can perform on the variable

The byte or word addressing mode of the variable

Data Type Storage Unit Kind of Values the Data Type Can Represent

STRING Byte An ASCII character.

An 8-bit integer in the range 0 through 255 unsigned.

INT Word One or two ASCII characters.

A 16-bit integer in the range 0 through 65,535 unsigned or

–32,768 through 32,767 signed.

A standard (16-bit) address.

INT(32) Doubleword A 32-bit integer in the range –2,147,483,648 through

+2,147,483,647.

An extended (32-bit) address.

UNSIGNED n-bit field UNSIGNED(1–15) and UNSIGNED(17–31) can represent a

positive unsigned integer in the range 0 through (2

– 1).

UNSIGNED(16) can represent an integer in the range 0 through

65,535 unsigned or –32,768 through 32,767 signed; it can

also represent a standard address

FIXED Quadrupleword A 64-bit fixed-point number. For FIXED(0) and FIXED(

), the

range is –9,223,372,036,854,775,808 through

+9,223,372,036,854,775,807.

REAL Doubleword A 32-bit floating-point number in the range

±8.6361685550944446E–78 through

±1.15792089237316189E77 precise to approximately seven

significant digits.

REAL(64) Quadrupleword A 64-bit floating-point number in the same range as data type

REAL, precise to approximately 17 significant digits.

For an UNSIGNED simple variable, the bit field can be 1 to 31 bits wide.

For an UNSIGNED array, the element bit field can be 1, 2, 4, or 8 bits wide.