In order to allow the transparent integration of processors with differing representations for basic data types, Q uses strong data typing. Polymorphism, the ability to represent data of varying type, is not currently supported. Neither is the user able to define composite data structures. The following data types are supported:
Individual data machine architectures are free to determine how each data type is actually represented. A common example of a representation difference is the storage byte-order, or endianess, used for multi-byte data types. Translation between the different representations of a single type is automatically performed as needed, simplifying the programming model and enabling a heterogeneous mix of data machines in a system.