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Java

TC Ooi
TC Ooi
5,858 Points

Object data type vs Primitive data type

I was learning collection and I saw the type declared are object data type e.g. Integer and Character instead of int or char. Can I know when to use the correct data type?

1 Answer

Simon Coates
Simon Coates
28,694 Points

With collections, you typically want the object type. So a collection of characters might be List<Character>. The Character class is a 'wrapper' class. It's a class that exists to allow a primitive char to fit into places that need an object. Auto boxing and unboxing is a process where a primitive converts to a object wrapper type or back again. ( see https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/data/autoboxing.html )