C++ Programming II: Strings and Data Types

Data Types and Declarations

• A string is a set of characters, represented as a sequence of letters in quotes.
• Examples of strings: "JADARA", "C++ is fun!", " " (empty string).
• A string variable stores a sequence of characters, and its size is variable.
• In contrast, a char variable stores a single character, and its size is 1 byte.

Declaration and Initialization of Strings

• The string type is not a built-in type in C++, so it requires the #include directive to use all its functions.
• A string can be initialized using the string keyword, e.g., string X6 = "JADARA";.
• A string can also be initialized as an array of characters, e.g., char s1[]= "AAAAA AA";.

Key Differences between string and char arrays

• A string variable is declared using the string keyword, while a char array is declared using the char keyword.
• A string variable can be initialized with a string literal, while a char array must be initialized with a character array.
• A string variable can be manipulated using string functions, while a char array must be manipulated using array operations.

Output

• The COUT statement is used to output strings and other variables to the console.