float f= \u0038

[weiliu lili]

why this is valid? float f= \u0038
I thought the right way should be float f= 'u0038'
the explanation is that \u0038 is unicode for nbr 8. what does that mean?

[Corey McGlone]

You can read more about Unicode in the JLS, §3.10.4 Character Literals. In short, Unicode format encapsulates all characters in the World, unlike ASCII.
When you compile a Java program, Unicode characters are translated very early in the process. Therefore, when it actually came time to compile that code, the compiler would see the line:

float f = 8;

This is obviously valid. Of course, had we put tick marks around it, we would have ended up with this:

float f = '8';

This is also legal, but it's also quite different. The number 8 and the character value of the number 8 are not one in the same.
I hope that helps,
Corey
[ June 06, 2002: Message edited by: Corey McGlone ]