Elementary Data Types (Visual Basic)

Visual Basic supplies a set of predefined data types, which you can use for many of your programming elements. This section describes these types and how to use them.

Note

Every elementary data type in Visual Basic is supported by a structure or a class that is in the System namespace. The compiler uses each data type keyword as an alias for the underlying structure or class. For example, declaring a variable by using the reserved word Byte is the same as declaring it by using the fully qualified structure name System.Byte.

In This Section

• Numeric Data Types (Visual Basic)
  Describes the integral and non-integral numeric types.

• Character Data Types (Visual Basic)
  Describes the Char and String types.

• Miscellaneous Data Types (Visual Basic)
  Describes the Boolean, Date, and Object types.

Related Sections

• Data Types in Visual Basic
  Introduces the Visual Basic data types and describes how to use them.

• Data Type Summary (Visual Basic)
  Provides an overview of the elementary data types supplied by Visual Basic.

Change History

Date	History	Reason
June 2011	Added note about underlying structures and classes.	Information enhancement.