Rust – Scalars

Scalar data types represent single values. There are four types of scalar data types: integers, floats, bools and chars.

Integers #

Remember: 1 byte = 8 bits.

A signed integer means it can be positive or negative. Signed integers are stored using two’s complement representation and can range from \( -2^{n-1} \) to \( 2^{n-1}-1 \) inclusive, where \( n \) is the length in bits.

Unsigned integers only store positive numbers and can range from \( 0 \) to \( 2^{n-1}-1 \) inclusive.

Arch means it is dependent on the architecture of your computer. For example, if you have a 64-bit computer arch would be 64-bit sized. You want to use arch when indexing some sort of collection.

Using the rust defaults for integers is recommended. For integers this is an i32.

Warning: Integer overflows are possible. In production, integer overflows wrap back around. Numbers greater than the maximum wrap back to the minimum number and vice-versa.

Float #

There are two types of floats in Rust - f32 and f64. The default is an f64 and is represented according to the IEEE-754 standard.

Bool #

Boolean variables are stored using 1-byte.

Char #

Char variables are stored using 4-bytes and represent a unicode scalar value.

Extra: Integer Literals #