Boxing (computer programming): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:36, 10 August 2010

Revision as of 14:02, 12 August 2010

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{{seealso|Object (computer science)}}

In [[computer science]], an '''object type''' (a.k.a. '''wrapping object''') is a [[datatype]] which is used in [[object-oriented programming]] to [[wrapper pattern|wrap]] a non-object type to make it look like a [[Reference type|dynamic]] [[object (computer science)|object]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}}

Some [[object-oriented programming language]]s make a distinction between [[Reference type|reference]] and [[value type]]s, often referred to as objects and non-objects on platforms where complex value types don't exist, for reasons such as runtime efficiency and syntax or semantic issues. For example, [[Java (programming language)|Java]] has [[primitive wrapper class]]es corresponding to each [[primitive type]]: <code>Integer</code> and <code>int</code>, <code>Character</code> and <code>char</code>, <code>Float</code> and <code>float</code>, etc. Languages like [[C++]] have little or no notion of reference type; thus, the use of object type is of little interest.