Literal Assignment for following Example

[Shivey Upadhyay]

Hi, I am Shivey Upadhyay, I am preparing for SCJP1.5 and have some problems with the following code:

class LiteralTest {
public static void main(String[] args) {
final short s1 = 1; // 1
final char c1 = 1; // 2
byte b1 = s1; // 3
byte b2 = c1; // 4
byte b3 = 1; // 5
byte b4 = 1L; // 6
byte b5 = 1.0; // 7
byte b6 = 1.0d; // 8
}}

I know Short is 16 bit signed and under the hood char is also 16 bit unsigned int.
They get conerted into int defaultly.
but assigning an Int value without explicit cast to a byte does not give Compiler Error in Line //3 because s1 is marked final.
what difference final make in this case?
If i remove final, the behaviour at Line //3 will become as required?

Thanks,
Shivey

[Jesper de Jong]

Because s1 is final, it is a compile-time constant. The compiler knows that it's a fixed value that can't change, so the compiler can already check if the value fits in a byte (it does, so you don't get an error message).

If s1 is not final, then it's not a fixed value that's known at compile time, so the compiler can't check if it can be converted to a byte without loosing data.

[Shivey Upadhyay]

Thanks, Jesper Young
But, I am sorry, i want to confirm it.

According to this property,
final int x=2;
byte b =x;//will compile
i.e., the value of x, whether it is int, short or char the value should be between -128 to127 and the value will be assigned to b?
Am i correct?

Thanks,
Shivey

[Shivey Upadhyay]

Thanks, Jesper Young
But, I am sorry, i want to confirm it.

According to this property,
final int x=2;
byte b =x;//will compile
i.e., the value of x, whether it is int, short or char the value should be between -128 to127 and the value will be assigned to b?
Am i correct?

Thanks,
Shivey

[ahmed yehia]

the value of x, whether it is int, short or char the value should be between -128 to 127 and the value will be assigned to b?
Am i correct?

Thats correct, otherwise you ll get a Compiler error "possible loss of precision"