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UNIT 2
 Presentation Outline
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• Specification and Implementation of Elementary Data Types

• Specification and Implementation of Structured Data Types
• Type Equivalence, Checking and Conversion
• Vectors and Arrays
• Lists ,Structures
• Sets ,Files
 Elementary Data Types
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:Data Objects

a run-time grouping of one or more pieces of data in a

virtual computer.
a location in memory with an assigned name in the
actual computer.

 Programmer defined data objects

 System defined data objects
 Concepts
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Data value: a bit pattern that is recognized by the

computer.
Elementary data object: contains a data value
that is manipulated as a unit.
Data structure: a combination of data objects.

Attributes: determine how the location may be used.

Most important attribute - the data type.
 Attributes and Bindings
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Type: determines the set of data values that the object

may take and the applicable operations.
Name: the binding of a name to a data object.
Component: the binding of a data object to one or
more data objects.
These attributes are bound at translation
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Attributes and Bindings

Location: the storage location in memory

assigned by the system (bound at loading)

Value: the assignment of a bit pattern to a name

(bound at execution)
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Variables and Constants

In programs, data objects are represented as

variables and constants
Variables : Data objects defined and named by the
programmer explicitly.
 Variables and Constants
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Constants:
Data objects with a name that is permanently bound to a
value for its lifetime.
Literals: constants whose name is the written
representation of their value.
A programmer-defined constant: the name is
chosen by the programmer in a definition of data object.
Persistence: existence of data beyond run time
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Data Types

A data type is a class of data objects with a set of

operations for creating and manipulating them.

Examples of elementary data types:

integer, real, character, Boolean, enumeration,
pointer.
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Specification of a data type

•Attributes
•Values
•Operations
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Attributes

Distinguish data objects of a given type Data type and

name - invariant during the lifetime of the object
Approaches:
• stored in a descriptor and used during the program
execution
• used only to determine the storage representation, not
used explicitly during execution
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Values

The data type determines the values that a data object of

that type may have

Specification: Usually an ordered set, i.e. it has a least and

a greatest value
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Operations

Operations define the possible manipulations of data

objects of that type.
 Primitive - specified as part of the language
definition
 Programmer-defined (as subprograms, or class
methods)
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Operations

An operation is defined by:

· Domain - set of possible input arguments
· Range - set of possible results
· Action - how the result is produced
 Operation signature
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Specifies the domain and the range

• the number, order and data types of the arguments in the
domain,
• the number, order and data type of the resulting range
mathematical notation for the specification:
op name: arg type x arg type x … x arg type result type
The action is specified in the operation
implementation.
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Sources of ambiguity in operations

 Undefined operations for certain inputs.
 Implicit arguments, e.g. use of global variables
 Implicit results - the operation may modify its
arguments
 Self-modification - usually through change of local
data between calls, e.g. random number generators
change the seed.
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Implementation of a data type

• Storage representation
• Implementation of operations
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Storage representation

Influenced by the hardware Described in terms of:

Size of the memory blocks required
Layout of attributes and data values within the
block
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Methods to treat attributes

 determined by the compiler and not stored in

descriptors during execution - C

 stored in a descriptor as part of the data object at

run time - LISP Prolog
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Implementation of operations

• Hardware operation direct implementation. E.g.

integer addition
• Subprogram/function, e.g. square root operation
• In-line code Instead of using a subprogram, the code is
copied into the program at the point where the
subprogram would have been invoked.
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Elementary Data Types

• Scalar Data Types

• Numerical Data Types
• Other

• Composite Data Types

• Character Strings
• Pointers and Programmer-Constructed
Objects
• Files
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Scalar Data Types

Scalar data types represent

a single object, i.e. only one value can be derived.

In general, scalar objects follow the hardware architecture

of a computer.
 Scalar Data Types
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Numeric Data Types

Integers
Sub -ranges
Floating-point real numbers
Fixed-point real numbers
Other Data Types -
Complex numbers
Rational numbers
Enumerations
Booleans
Characters
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Integers
Specification
Maximal and minimal values
Operations:
Arithmetic
Relational
Assignment
Bit operations
Implementation - hardware defined
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Sub-ranges

Specification: subtype of integer

a sequence of integer values within some restricted range
Example:
Pascal declaration A: 1..10 means that the variable
A may be assigned integer values from 1 through
10.
Implementation
smaller storage requirements, better type checking
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Floating-point real numbers

Specification: Minimum and maximal value
Round-off issues - the check for equality may fail
due to round -off

Implementation
Mantissa - exponent model.
Example: 10.5 = 0.105 x 102,
Mantissa: 105, Exponent: 2
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Fixed-point real numbers

Specification:
real numbers with predefined decimal places
Implementation :
directly supported by hardware or simulated by
software
 Other Scalar Data Types
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Complex numbers: software simulated with two storage

locations one the real portion and one for the imaginary
portion.
Rational numbers: the quotient of two integers.
Enumerations: Ordered list of different values
Booleans
Characters
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Enumerations

Example:
enum StudentClass
{Fresh, Soph, Junior, Senior}
the variable StudentClass may accept only one of the
four listed values.
Implementation: represented during run time as
integers, corresponding to the listed values.
 Booleans
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Specification: Two values: true and false.

Can be given explicitly as enumeration
Basic operations: and, or, not.
Implementation: A single addressable unit such as byte or
word.
Use a particular bit for the value, e.g. the last bit; 1 -
true, 0 -false.
Use the entire storage; a zero value would then be
false, otherwise - true.
 Characters
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Specification: Single character as a value of a data object.

Collating sequence - the ordering of the
characters, used for lexicographic sorting.
Operations:
Relational
Assignment
Testing the type of the character - e.g. digit,
letter, special symbol.
Implementation supported by the underlying hardware
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Composite Data Types

Characterized by a complex data structure organization,

processed by the compiler.

 Character Strings
 Pointers and Programmer- Constructed
Objects
 Files
 Character Strings
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Specification:
Fixed declared length : storage allocation at
translation time. Strings longer than the declared
length are truncated.
Variable length to a declared bound: storage
allocation at translation time. An upper bound for
length is set and any string over that length is
truncated
Unbounded length: storage allocation at run
time. String can be any length
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Character Strings - operations

o Concatenation – appending two strings
o Relational operations – equal, less than,
greater than
o Substring selection using positioning subscripts
o Substring selection using pattern matching
o Input / output formatting
o Dynamic strings - the string is evaluated at run
time.
 Character Strings -
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implementation
• Fixed declared length: A packed vector of characters
• Variable length to a declared bound: a descriptor that contains the
maximum length and the current length
• Unbounded length: Either a linked storage of fixed-length data objects or a
contiguous array of characters with dynamic run-time storage allocation
 Pointers and Programmer-Constructed
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Objects
Specification:
Reference data objects only of a single type – C,
Pascal, Ada.
Reference data objects of any type – Smalltalk
C, C++: pointers are data objects and can be
manipulated by the program
Java: pointers are hidden data structures, managed by
the language implementation
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Pointers - implementation
Absolute addresses stored in the pointer. Allows for storing
the new object anywhere in the memory
Relative addresses: offset with respect to some base
address.
Advantages: the entire block can be moved to
another location without invalidating the addresses in the
pointers, since they are relative, not absolute.
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Pointers – implementation problems

o Management of a general heap storage area: to

create objects of different size
o Garbage - the contents of pointer is destroyed, and the
object still exists
o Dangling references: the object is destroyed however
the pointer still contains the address of the used location,
and can be wrongly used by the program.
 Files
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Characteristics:
• Usually reside on secondary storage devices as
disks, tapes.
• Lifetime is greater than the lifetime of the program
that has created the files.
Implementation – as part of the operating system
 Types of files
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Sequential file: a data structure composed of a linear

sequence of components of the same type.

Interactive Input-Output: sequential files used in

interactive mode.
 Types of Files
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Direct Access Files: Any single component can be

accessed at random just as in an array.
Key: the subscript to access a component.
Implementation: a key table is kept in main
memory
Indexed Sequential Files: Similar to direct access files
using a key combined with being able to sequentially
process the file. The file must be ordered by the key
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Structured Data Types

A data structure is a data object that contains other data
objects as its elements or components.
Mechanisms to create new data types:
 Structured data
 Homogeneous: arrays, lists, sets,
 Non-homogeneous: records
 Subprograms
 Type declarations – to define new types and operations
(Abstract data types)
 Inheritance
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Data specifications

Number of components and size

Type of each component

Selection mechanism

Maximum number of components

Organization of the components

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Data specifications

Number of components and size

Fixed size - Arrays
Variable size – stacks, lists. Pointer is used to
link components.

Type of each component

Homogeneous – all components are the
same type
Heterogeneous – components are of
different types
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Data specifications - selection

Selection mechanism to identify components –

index, pointer

Two-step process:
 referencing the structure
 selection of a particular component
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Data specifications - organization

 Simple linear sequence - arrays, stacks, lists

 Multidimensional structures:
 separate types (Fortran)
 a vector of vectors (C++)
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Operations on data structures

Component selection operations

Sequential
Random
Insertion/deletion of components

Whole-data structure operations

Creation/destruction of data structures
 Implementation of
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structured data types

• Storage representations

• Implementation of operations on data structures

• Storage management
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Storage representation

• storage for the components

• optional descriptor, contains some or all of the attributes

• Sequential representation
• Linked representation
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Sequential representation

The data structure is stored in a single contiguous

block of storage, that includes both descriptor and
components.

Used for fixed-size structures, homogeneous

structures (arrays, character strings)
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Linked representation

The data structure is stored in several noncontiguous

blocks of storage, linked together through pointers.

Used for variable-size structured (trees, lists)

Flexible, ensures true variable size, however it has to

be software simulated
 Implementation of operations on data
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structures

Component selection in sequential representation

Base address plus offset calculation. Add
component size to current location to move to next
component.

Component selection in linked representation

Move from address location to address location
following the chain of pointers.
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Storage management

Access paths to a structured data object - to

endure access to the object for its processing.
Created using a name or a pointer.

Two central problems:

Garbage – data object is bound but access
path is destroyed. Memory cannot be
unbound.

Dangling references: the data object is

destroyed, but the access path still exists.
 Declarations and type checking for
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data structures

What is to be checked:

• Existence of a selected component

• Type of a selected component

 Type equivalence
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and equality of data objects

Two questions to be answered:

•When are two types the same?

•When do 2 objects have the same value?

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Name equivalence

Two data types are considered equivalent only if

they have the same name.

Issues
Every object must have an assigned type, there can
be no anonymous types.

A singe type definition must serve all or large parts

of a program.
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Structural equivalence

Two data types are considered equivalent if they define

data objects that have the same internal components.

Issues
 Do components need to be exact duplicates?
 Can field order be different in records?
 Can field sizes vary?
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Data object equality

Two objects are equal if each member in one object

is identical to the corresponding member of the
other object.

The compiler has no way to know how to compare data

values of user-defined type. It is the task of the
programmer that has defined that particular data type to
define also the operations with the objects of that type.
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Type Checking versus Type Conversion

Type checking: checking that each operation executed by a

program receives the proper number of arguments of the
proper data types.

Static type checking is done at compilation.

Dynamic type checking is done at run-time.
Strong typing: all type errors can be statically checked
Type inference: implicit data types, used if the interpretation
is unambiguous.
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Type Conversion and Coercion

Coercion: Implicit type conversion, performed by
the system.
Explicit conversion : routines to change from one
data type to another.
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Vectors and Arrays

Vector - one dimensional array

Matrix - two dimensional array

Multidimensional arrays

Slice - a substructure in an array that is also an array,

e.g. a column in a matrix

Associative Arrays - elements are selected by a key

value
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Implementation of array operations

Access - can be implemented efficiently if the length

of the components of the array is known at
compilation time.

The address of each selected element can be computed

using an arithmetic expression.

Whole array operations, e.g. copying an array - may

require much memory.
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Records

A record is data structure composed of a fixed

number of components of different types.

The components may be heterogeneous, and they

are named with symbolic names.
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Other structured data objects

Records and arrays with structured components

Lists and sets

Executable data objects

Data structures are considered to be a special type of
program statements and all are treated in the same
way (Prolog).