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Concept help - Data Type

Table of Contents

A Data Type describes a way of storing a specific form of data within a system.

A datatype is a set of distinct values, characterized by properties of those values and by operations on those values (ISO/IEC 11404).

Primative datatypes are those "that cannot be decomposed into other datatypes without loss of associated semantics "

ISO/IEC 11179-3 Section 11.3.2.9

Datatype is a class, each instance of which models a datatype (3.1.9), a set of distinct values, characterized by properties of those values and by operations on those values. For example, the category used for the collection of letters, digits, and/or symbols to depict values of a Data_Element (11.5.2.1) determined by the operations that may be performed on the Data_Element.

This part of ISO/IEC 11179 is intended to accommodate datatypes from datatype schemes specified in external standards. It is also intended to accommodate other non-standard datatype schemes. Possible standardized datatype schemes include:

  • ISO/IEC 9075 (SQL dataype);
  • ISO/IEC 11404 (General Purpose Datatypes);
  • ISO 21090 Health Informatics datatypes;
  • C programming language datatypes;
  • XML Schema datatypes;

Fields available on this metadata type

Field ISO definition
Name The primary name used for human identification purposes.
Definition Representation of a concept by a descriptive statement which serves to differentiate it from related concepts. (3.2.39)
Is Federated
Is Not Federable
Version Unique version identifier of this metadata item.
References Significant documents that contributed to the development of the metadata item which were not the direct source for the metadata content.
Origin The source (e.g. document, project, discipline or model) for the item (8.1.2.2.3.5)
Comments Descriptive comments about the metadata item (8.1.2.2.3.4)
Deleted The date after which the item has been soft deleted and is no longer visible in the registry

Official Definition

A set of distinct values, characterized by properties of those values and by operations on those values ISO/IEC 11179 - Clause 3.1.8