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type

1. Biology
a. the taxonomic group the characteristics of which are used for defining the next highest group, for example Rattus norvegicus (brown rat) is the type species of the rat genus Rattus
b. (as modifier): a type genus
2. Logic a class of expressions or of the entities they represent that can all enter into the same syntactic relations. The theory of types was advanced by Bertrand Russell to avoid the liar paradox, Russell's paradox, etc.
3. Philosophy a universal. If a sentence always has the same meaning whenever it is used, the meaning is said to be a property of the sentence-type
4. Chiefly Christian theol a figure, episode, or symbolic factor resembling some future reality in such a way as to foreshadow or prefigure it
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

type

any abstract or conceptual class or category which may or may not be seen as capable of straightforward empirical reference. Compare IDEAL TYPE. See also TYPOLOGY, TYPIFICATION.
Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000

type

[′tīp]
(graphic arts)
The relief or plane characters used to generate printed characters of various styles and sizes.
(systematics)
A specimen on which a species or subspecies is based.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

type

i. In relation to the licensing of aviation personnel, it means all aircraft of the same basic design, including all modifications, except those resulting in a significant change in handling or flight characteristics.
ii. In relation to the certification of aircraft, aircraft engines, or propellers, it means those aircraft, aircraft engines, or propellers that are similar in design.
An Illustrated Dictionary of Aviation Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

type

(theory, programming)
(Or "data type") A set of values from which a variable, constant, function, or other expression may take its value. A type is a classification of data that tells the compiler or interpreter how the programmer intends to use it. For example, the process and result of adding two variables differs greatly according to whether they are integers, floating point numbers, or strings.

Types supported by most programming languages include integers (usually limited to some range so they will fit in one word of storage), Booleans, floating point numbers, and characters. Strings are also common, and are represented as lists of characters in some languages.

If s and t are types, then so is s -> t, the type of functions from s to t; that is, give them a term of type s, functions of type s -> t will return a term of type t.

Some types are primitive - built-in to the language, with no visible internal structure - e.g. Boolean; others are composite - constructed from one or more other types (of either kind) - e.g. lists, arrays, structures, unions. Object-oriented programming extends this with classes which encapsulate both the structure of a type and the operations that can be performed on it.

Some languages provide strong typing, others allow implicit type conversion and/or explicit type conversion.
This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

type

(1) A category of data. See data type.

(2) To press the keys on a keyboard.


Try Typing on These Keys!
This "portable" typewriter was created by George Blickensderfer in 1893. (Equipment courtesy of Dorothy Hearn.)







(3) An internal DOS/Windows command that displays the contents of text and batch files as in the following examples:
type abc.txt          entire contents

  type abc.txt | more   per screenful


The vertical bar is a "pipe" and MORE is a "filter." A pipe passes output from one function to another. Thus, you are piping the output of the Type command to the MORE filter, which pauses after receiving a screenful of data and waits for a key to be pressed. See filters and pipes.

Weird Characters on Screen?



The Type command is for viewing .TXT, .BAT and .CMD files that are regular text. If you use Type with an .EXE, .SYS or other binary file, a strange combination of characters will be displayed along with beeps and erratic motion (see below). Binary files coincidentally trigger sounds and screen functions because their formats randomly match the first 32 characters in the ASCII table, which are control codes (see ASCII chart). See binary file.


Using Type on a Binary File
If the Type command is used to display a non-text file, these are the results.
Copyright © 1981-2025 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Type

 

a rectangular piece of metal, plastic, or wood with a raised image of a letter or character on one side. The raised or recessed image serves to reproduce letters and characters by printing, in which the face is covered with ink and an impression is made on paper. Metal type is the most common; it is cast from printing alloy. The parts of a piece of type (see Figure 1) are the body (a), beard (b), and face (c); the dimensions of the type are defined by the point size (d), width (e), and height to paper (f). The last dimension is constant for all kinds of type.

Figure 1


Type

 

an element with which a particular taxon is always associated. The type of a species or an intraspecific taxon is usually a single specimen of a plant or animal or, less commonly, several specimens viewed together on one herbarium sheet or in one laboratory preparation. Sometimes a drawing serves as a type. The type of the plant species Companula aldanensis is a specimen collected by the Russian botanist V. S. Korzhevin on Aug. 6, 1928, on the bank of the Aldan River in Siberia; the specimen is preserved in Leningrad at the herbarium of the V. L. Komarov Botanical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

The term “type” is also used as a designation for a lower taxonomic category that is selected as a standard of reference for a higher category. The type of a genus or of a taxon between a genus or species (for example, a subgenus or section) is a particular species. For example, the species Campanula latifolia is the type of the genus Campanula. The type of family or of a taxon between a family and a genus (for example, a tribe or subfamily) is a particular genus. For example, the type genus of the family Campanulaceae is Campanula, a genus established by C. Linnaeus. Taxa higher than a family do not have types.

M. E. KIRPICHNIKOV

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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