Data Type Summary (Visual Basic)
Data Type Summary (Visual Basic)
The following table shows the Visual Basic data types, their supporting common language runtime types, their nominal storage allocation, and their value
ranges.
Date DateTime 8 bytes 0:00:00 (midnight) on January 1, 0001 through 11:59:59 PM on December 31, 9999
Object Object (class) 4 bytes on 32- Any type can be stored in a variable of type Object
bit platform
8 bytes on 64-
bit platform
Single (single- Single 4 bytes -3.4028235E+38 through -1.401298E-45 for negative values;
precision
oating-point)
1.401298E-45 through 3.4028235E+38 for positive values
User-Dened (inherits from Depends on Each member of the structure has a range determined by its data type and independent of
(structure) ValueType) implementing the ranges of the other members
platform
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Data Type Summary (Visual Basic) 7/7/2559 BE, 11:58 PM
In scientic notation, "E" refers to a power of 10. So 3.56E+2 signies 3.56 x 102 or 356, and 3.56E-2 signies 3.56 / 102 or 0.0356.
Note
For strings containing text, use the StrConv function to convert from one text format to another.
In addition to specifying a data type in a declaration statement, you can force the data type of some programming elements by using a type character. See
Type Characters (Visual Basic).
Memory Consumption
When you declare an elementary data type, it is not safe to assume that its memory consumption is the same as its nominal storage allocation. This is due
to the following considerations:
Storage Assignment. The common language runtime can assign storage based on the current characteristics of the platform on which your
application is executing. If memory is nearly full, it might pack your declared elements as closely together as possible. In other cases it might align
their memory addresses to natural hardware boundaries to optimize performance.
Platform Width. Storage assignment on a 64-bit platform is different from assignment on a 32-bit platform.
Overhead. Some composite types have additional memory requirements. For example, an array uses extra memory for the array itself and also for
each dimension. On a 32-bit platform, this overhead is currently 12 bytes plus 8 bytes for each dimension. On a 64-bit platform this requirement
is doubled.
Storage Layout. You cannot safely assume that the order of storage in memory is the same as your order of declaration. You cannot even make
assumptions about byte alignment, such as a 2-byte or 4-byte boundary. If you are dening a class or structure and you need to control the
storage layout of its members, you can apply the StructLayoutAttribute attribute to the class or structure.
Object Overhead
An Object referring to any elementary or composite data type uses 4 bytes in addition to the data contained in the data type.
See Also
StrConv
StructLayoutAttribute
Type Conversion Functions (Visual Basic)
Conversion Summary (Visual Basic)
Type Characters (Visual Basic)
Efficient Use of Data Types (Visual Basic)
2016 Microsoft
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