Simple vs Structured Data Types

• Up until now, we have studied simple data types
  • These hold a single value (1, 3.4 'a', or SuitT::HEART)
  • They can't be broken down any further.
• Simple datat types include
  • integer types
  • floating point types
  • enumerations
• We begin to look at structured data types
  • Or data types that consist of several items.
  • These can be homogeneous - all the same type like a string which is a collection of characters
  • They can be heterogeneous - or made up of one or more type.
• Structured data types in C++ consist of
  • structures - a heterogeneous collection of data
  • arrays - a homogeneous collection of data
  • classes - a homogeneous collection of data and methods
  • unions - a single storage location that can be accessed multiple ways.
• We have encountered classes before this
  • strings are classes.
  • streams are classes.
• We also have begun to explore arrays
  • Using the [] operator with a string gives us array experience.
• Finally there are two other types we will discuss later
  • pointers and references are address based data types.