Literal

A value that is written itself in the source code.

Related concepts:  Value

Closest Wikipedia entry:  Literal (computer programming) — In computer science, a literal is a textual representation (notation) of a value as it is written in source code. Almost all programming languages have notations for atomic values such as integers, floating-point numbers, and strings, and usually for Booleans and characters; some also have notations for elements of enumerated types and compound values such as arrays, records, and objects. An anonymous function is a literal for the function type.

Misconceptions about Literal

18 documented Misconceptions

ArrayInitializerContentsInBrackets

Array initializers list the elements in square brackets

BoxedNull

Passing null to a wrapper class constructor creates an object representing the absence of a value

LargeIntegerLong

Large integer numbers have type long

LiteralNoExpression

A literal is not an expression

LiteralString

When passing a literal string as argument to a method, no quotes are needed

NoAtomicExpression

Expressions must consist of more than one piece

NoCallOnStringLiteral

One cannot invoke methods on String literals

NoCharEscape

\ is a normal character in char and String literals

NoFloatLiterals

There are no float literals

NoLongLiterals

There are no long literals

NullIsObject

null is an object

RationalLiterals

Rational fractions are literals

SingleQuoteString

String literals can be in single quotes

StringLiteralNoObject

One needs to call the String constructor to get a String object from a literal