Simple Data Types

Let's explore the basic data types in JavaScript: strings, numbers, booleans, null.

In our previous example we used strings as values for our variables. But, of course, JavaScript has a lot more to offer than just these series of characters, though! Let's take a look at the various simple data types available in the language.

Strings

Strings are essentially a "static" series of characters of any kind, surrounded by either single quotes, or double quotes. They don't really have a size limit, but by default they got to be on a single line.

Strings look like this:

let myString = "I'm a string.";
const otherString = 'This is also a string';

// If you're using the double or single quotes they have to be "escaped":
const escapedSingle = 'I\'m cool and it\'s fine!';
const escapedDouble = "This is an \"escape\" from real life";

// You can put strings together, called "concatenating" using a + sign:
const concatString = escapedSingle + " I'm in the middle " + escapedDouble;

// You can also append a string with the special += method:
myString += " and I've added to myString now!";

Single, Double, Backtick???

A fairly common question is to wonder why JavaScript has both single and double-quotes, and when to use them. In some other languages this matters, but in JavaScript it doesn't - single and double quotes will function in literally the same way, they have no functional differences.

The above code example shows the use of both single and double quotes and how to escape them, but the other thing you can do is also use the "opposite" quote to simplify string.

const str1 = 'This is "a string" with no escapes';
const str2 = "Let's do it the other way!";

So what about the backtick? You might have seen those. They're used in a different concept called Template Literals. They're used to merge things together, but they're a bit more complicated and deserve their own page, so head on over there to learn more about them!

Integers and Numbers

Numbers are somewhat limited in JavaScript, in the sense that JS only supports "32-bit integers". Not often will that really be an issue as this means the maximum integer size is 9007199254740991. JavaScript also supports Float values, obviously.

const myInt = 42; // note the lack of any quotes!
const myFloat = 346.32462346;

// You can do some math with JS, of course. The language follows regular math order
// of operation, parentheses go first, then * and / , etc. 
const myResult = 10 * (33 - 5) / 2 + 8; // result: 148

You shouldn't do "real" math with JavaScript. Some details of the language could mean bad results. Some of these issues take the form of rounding errors or just plain old weirdness. For instance, 0.1 + 0.2 will actually not equal 0.3 but rather 0.30000000000000004. Why? Because, JavaScript. Though this particular example really doesn't work in most programming languages.

Booleans

A boolean is essentially a value that is true or false. Defining a boolean is essentially super easy:

const imTrue = true;
const imFalse = false;

Now, that's not extremely useful to be honest, but booleans are much, much more than that. There are many operations that will return a boolean value when you execute them. Here are a few examples:

const isBigger = 5 > 2; // true
const isEqual = "blue" === "red"; // false

Some things are not quite booleans but will act the same. I will reserve this explanation for conditions however, which are explored in another part of this guide. That's also where we'll talk about those operators I just used!

Null and Undefined

Some values can be either null or undefined, so these two types are considered data types, but are generally used under very specific circumstances.

let test; // test is "undefined" but won't crash the bot
console.log(test); // undefined

console.log(x); // crashes with "ReferenceError: x is not defined;

const what = null; // valid
console.log(what); // null