Learn Challenge: Type Modifiers for Variables

The keywords short and long are type modifiers. They are used to modify the size or range of a data type. They don't create new data types but rather alter the properties of existing types.

type_modifiers.h


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// `short` is used for variables 
// That require smaller range of values.
short int small_range_integer_variable;

// `long` is used for variables
// That require a larger range of values.
long int large_range_integer_variable;

Sometimes, you know that the values will certainly be small. For example, when storing the age of users, the value won't exceed 255. Such values can fit within 8 bits.

main.cpp


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#include <iostream>

int main()
{
  	short int small_number = 45;
  	long int large_number = 4000000000;

  	std::cout << "Small number: " << small_number <<std:: endl;  
	std::cout << "Large number: " << large_number << std::endl;
}

What those type modifiers do is change the size of a type. While int takes up 4 bytes, short int takes up 2 bytes, and the long int 8 bytes of memory.

Note

There is a shorter syntax available you can use any of them:

short is equivalent to short int;
long is equivalent to long int;

So, we need to use long (long int) to store large values. In contrast, we can use short (short int) to take up less memory. However, its range is narrower because of that. Here is the table with ranges that a type can hold:

Task

Swipe to start coding

The calculateEnergyConsumption function multiplies a small per-person value by a large population without causing overflow.

Store averageConsumption in a short int.
Store cityPopulation in an int.
Multiply them and store the result in a long int named totalConsumption.
Return totalConsumption.
Do not change the values of averageConsumption or cityPopulation inside the function.

Do not modify the values of averageConsumption and cityPopulation inside the calculateEnergyConsumption function.

Solution

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Section 2. Chapter 3

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Can you explain when to use short, int, or long in real-world scenarios?

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