Declaring Variables

Question

Say you have a variable called hotelPropertyNumber. The contents will always be a number but normally be used as a string. Would there be anything "wrong" with declaring it as a string so that you don't have to continually convert it to a string....or is that a bad programming habit?

Thanks.

Answer 1

A number is a mathematical object used in counting and measuring. If you use your hotelPropertyNumber for counting, i.e. apply any arithmetic operations to it, it is number and should be stored as a numeric type.

If not, then it is not a number; it is a string.

Answer 2

In some languages you can create a user-defined type such as "class HotelPropertyNumber", which:

• Supports exactly the methods you need
• May store its data internally as a string
• Can validate (in its constructor) that its value has a number-like syntax
• Can't be confused with other number and/or string type instances which aren't HotelPropertyNumber instances.