What is the role of wrapper classes for primitive types in a programming language?

Wrapper classes in Java provide object representations of primitive data types (int, boolean, char, etc.). Their role is to allow primitives to be used where objects are required, such as in collections or when working with generics.

Main wrapper classes:

• Integer for int
• Boolean for boolean
• Character for char
• Double for double, etc.

Advantages of using wrapper classes:

• Ability to store primitives in collections (e.g., List<Integer> instead of List<int>).
• Use of methods provided by wrapper classes (e.g., Integer.parseInt()).
• Support for null values, which is not possible with primitives.

Example:

List<Integer> numbers = new ArrayList<>();
numbers.add(10); // Autoboxing int to Integer
int value = numbers.get(0); // Unboxing Integer to int

Thus, wrapper classes provide flexibility and integration of primitive types with Java's object-oriented features.