Why is this implicit cast legal?

[Liang Anmian]

If I have this:

float f = 123L;

why does the code compile? A long variable is 8 bytes, while a float variable is 4 bytes. In theory, a float is not large enough to hold 8 bytes.

[Steven Bell]

A float is a wider type. It has a larger range of values than a long does. Even though there may be loss of precision Java allows casting into wider types.

[Liang Anmian]

Ok thanks a lot.