about cast

[rainbow]

why it must be casted from char to short?
short x='a'; //it will compile with error.it need cast
short x=(short)'a';//it compiles correct.
char's range is 0-255,but short is -256-255.so I think the statement short x='a'; is correct.
Who can tell me the reason?
Thanks.

[SathishVJ]

Hi rainbow,
It's is a 32 bit world these days.
Integral types and ranges:
For byte, from -128 to 127, inclusive
For short, from -32768 to 32767, inclusive
For int, from -2147483648 to 2147483647, inclusive
For long, from -9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807, inclusive
For char, from '\u0000' to '\uffff' inclusive, that is, from 0 to 65535
Regds
Sathish

[Anonymous]

Therefor, all chars may not be short and all short may not be chars.
So, u need an explicit cast.
For eg, u can represent -100 in a short but u can't represent the same -100 in a char coz it takes value from 0 to 2^16-1.
hope this helps :-)
-sampaths77

[Ajith Kallambella]

Yes. char is unsigned while short is signed. Unlike C++, char is a first class data-type in Java
Ajith

[rainbow]

Thanks all of you.
I mistaked the range of char before.Now I'm clear with it.
Rainbow