Data is stored in a computer in different data types. Numbers are stored in integers or real numbers, text is stored in strings and pictures in graphical formats.
To store text, use the string data type. Think of a word or sentence as just a list (string) of characters.
Strings can store numbers as well as text. You would not use a string to store a number that you wanted to carry out calculations with. The following are examples of data that could be held in a string:
Dave
I like the smell of new trainers
34 Bitesize Street, Beebshire
01240 890388
The last example is clearly a phone number. You might expect a phone number to be stored as an integer but this is not the case.
The main advantage of storing data as integers is so that you can use it in calculations. We do not normally do this with phone numbers.
