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overflow and underflow

 
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Would anybody like to explain the subject topic in short here for me or point me to a place where I can find the relevant topic. Thanks.
I got this question 'coz of the following practice:
1: void infiniteLoop()
2: {
3: byte b = 1;
4:
5: while ( ++b > 0 )
6: ;
7: System.out.println("Welcome to Java");
8: }
what will print out?
 
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Hi Luk,
An overflow occurs when the value assigned to a variable is larger than the maximum value the type can contain. Java does not produce a runtime exception when this happens; rather, it drops the high-order bits.
In your example, a byte can hold the positive values 0 to 127; once you reach '128' you overflow <code>byte</code> type. '128' is represented by '1000 0000' where the '1' is in the sign position, setting the value to a negative or less than zero, so you're loop ends without an error.
Actually, in your example, 'Welcome to Java' is displayed once. If you modify the code you can get a better picture of what's happening.

The last line printed shows that b is equal to '-128' ... the negative sign is the result of the way Java handles the overflow; it fills all the high order bits for the int type with the sign value.
Hope that helps.
------------------
Jane Griscti
Sun Certified Programmer for the Java� 2 Platform
 
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i would like to know why this code is printing "Welcome to java" only once"??
 
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Hi Hema,
It is because after the while loop gets over, the program execution continues to System.out.println ("Welcome to Java") and hence the output.
 
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