In computer programming, a classification that specifies what kind of data a variable can hold, such as integers, strings, or booleans. It determines the operations that can be performed on the data.
Compound of 'data' (from Latin 'datum' meaning 'something given') and 'type' (from Greek 'typos' meaning 'impression, model'). The concept emerged with early programming languages in the 1950s as computers needed ways to categorize different kinds of information.
The concept of datatypes reflects how computers, unlike humans, need explicit instructions about what kind of information they're processing - they can't intuitively know that '3' is a number while 'three' is text. Different datatypes use memory differently, which is why a programmer must choose carefully between storing a number as an integer or a decimal.
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