During class of Python, I heard about Dictionaries Literals. I wonder why it's called literals.
Q. What is a Literal
literal is a value you write directly in your code. It is not a variable or a name => it's the actual data.(you can think of it as the raw data -> number, text, etc.)
What is different from a Constant?
a constant is a named variable whose value doesn't change
final int MY_NUMBER = 42; -> like this(in here, the final keyword means constant), but 42 is literal.
Why It's called a literal, not a value.
A literal is the value as it appears literally in your code.
int x = 10;- 10 is a literal because you typed it directly into the code.
- it's called a literal because it's the literal representation of a value.
But, value has a broader Concept. The word value means the result of anything -> it could be
- a literal
- a variable
- a result of a function call
- a complex expression
eg.
int x = a+b=> Here, the value of x is not a literal -> it's calculated(computed). So we don't call it a "literal", even though it has a value.
