The MI_DATUM data type

The DataBlade® API handles a generic data value as an MI_DATUM value, also called a datum. A datum is stored in a chunk of memory that can fit into a computer register.

In the C language, the void * type is a typeless way to point to any object and will hold any integer value. This type is usually equivalent to the long int type and is usually four bytes in length, depending on the computer architecture. MI_DATUM is defined as a void * type. The MI_DATUM data type is guaranteed to be the size of the C type void * on all computer architectures.

On 64-bit platforms, void * is eight bytes in length, so an MI_DATUM value is stored in eight bytes.