Data types in use

The Five AQA Data Types

AQA requires you to know five specific data types. In exams, AQA always uses the general names in the table below - but when writing real code you will use the language-specific keyword instead. The concepts are identical; only the names differ.

AQA Name	What it stores	Python	VB.NET	C#
Integer	Whole numbers (no decimal)	`int`	`Integer`	`int`
Real	Numbers with a decimal part	`float`	`Double` / `Single`	`double` / `float`
Boolean	TRUE or FALSE only	`bool`	`Boolean`	`bool`
Character	A single character	Single-char string*	`Char`	`char`
String	A sequence of characters	`str`	`String`	`string`

* Python has no separate character type. A single-character string (e.g. "A") is used instead.

All Five Types in Code

The examples below show all five data types being declared and used in each language. Notice how the AQA names map to each language keyword.

# Python — AQA data types

# Integer (whole number)
age = 17

# Real — Python calls this float
average_score = 7.3

# Boolean — True or False
is_logged_in = True

# Character — Python has no char type; use a single-character string
initial = "A"

# String
username = "Alice"

print(age, average_score, is_logged_in, initial, username)

' VB.NET — AQA data types

' Integer (whole number)
Dim age As Integer = 17

' Real — VB.NET uses Double (or Single for less precision)
Dim averageScore As Double = 7.3

' Boolean — True or False
Dim isLoggedIn As Boolean = True

' Character — single character, note the "c" suffix
Dim initial As Char = "A"

' String
Dim username As String = "Alice"

Console.WriteLine($"{age} {averageScore} {isLoggedIn} {initial} {username}")

// C# — AQA data types

// Integer (whole number)
int age = 17;

// Real — C# uses double (or float for less precision)
double averageScore = 7.3;

// Boolean — true or false (lowercase in C#)
bool isLoggedIn = true;

// Character — single character, single quotes
char initial = 'A';

// String
string username = "Alice";

Console.WriteLine($"{age} {averageScore} {isLoggedIn} {initial} {username}");

Key Takeaways

AQA uses five data type names in exams: integer, real, Boolean, character, and string.
Real numbers may be called float or double in actual programming languages - these are the same concept.
A character holds exactly one character. Python has no separate character type; a single-character string is used instead.
A string is a sequence of characters and is used for any text value, regardless of its length.
In exams, always use the AQA general names (e.g. "real" not "float") unless the question specifically refers to a language.