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Discover How to Use JavaScript’s BigInt Data Type Like a Pro

Learn the ins and outs of handling astronomically large integers in JS with real-world examples and best practices

Max N
3 min readMar 14, 2024
Photo by jms on Unsplash

Introduction

Have you ever encountered situations where standard JavaScript numerical primitives couldn’t hold vast integer values? Fear not! Starting from ES2020, we now have access to a fantastic feature called BigInt. It enables us to seamlessly manage immeasurable integers while performing arithmetic operations without losing precision.

In this comprehensive tutorial, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know about utilizing BigInt, including its creation process, fundamental functionalities, and limitations.

Getting Started with BigInt

To begin, there are two ways to define a BigInt value:

  1. Append the letter ’n’ after any decimal integer:
let billion = 1_000_000_000n;
console.log(`Value: ${billion}`); // Value: 1000000000

2) Call the global BigInt() constructor, passing a string representation or another numeric type as an argument:

let sameBillion = BigInt("1000000000");
console.log(`Value: ${sameBillion}`); //…

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Max N
Max N

Written by Max N

A writer that writes about JavaScript and Python to beginners. If you find my articles helpful, feel free to follow.

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