Nothing Data Type

Dave Braunschweig

Overview

A nothing data type is a feature of some programming languages which allow the setting of a special value to indicate a missing or uninitialized value rather than using the value 0 (zero).[1]

Discussion

Most programming languages support the use of a reserved word or words to represent missing, uninitialized, or invalid values.

Language Reserved Word Meaning
C++ null no value
C# null no value
Java null no value
JavaScript null no value
JavaScript NaN Not a Number
Python None no value
Swift nil no value

Key Terms

NaN
Reserved word used to indicate a non-numeric value in a numeric variable.
null
Reserved word used to represent a missing value or invalid value.

License

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Programming Fundamentals Copyright © 2018 by Dave Braunschweig is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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