Question

The character constant 'A' requires _______ byte(s) of memory, whereas the string constant "A" requires ________ bvte(s).

Short answer

Answer: The character constant 'A' requires 1 byte of memory, while the string constant "A" requires 2 bytes of memory.

Step-by-step solution

Understand character and string constants

A character constant represents a single character, which is enclosed within single quotes (e.g., 'A'), while a string constant consists of a sequence of characters enclosed within double quotes (e.g., "A"). In C and C++, the size of a character constant is usually 1 byte (8 bits), which is enough to represent an ASCII character.

Memory allocation for character constant 'A'

In C and C++, a character constant such as 'A' occupies 1 byte (8 bits) of memory. This is because the character constant is stored as its ASCII value (65 for 'A') in binary form, which requires 8 bits or 1 byte of memory to represent. So, the character constant 'A' requires 1 byte of memory.

Memory allocation for string constant "A"

The string constant "A" consists of the character 'A' followed by a null terminator character '\0'. Each of these characters occupies 1 byte of memory. The null terminator character is required to indicate the end of the string, which is necessary for proper string manipulation in C and C++. So, the string constant "A" requires 2 bytes of memory in total (1 byte for the character 'A' and 1 byte for the null terminator '\0').

Conclusion

The character constant 'A' requires 1 byte of memory, whereas the string constant "A" requires 2 bytes of memory.