Question

Cant seem to find the answer to this, I’m sure it’s simple, but just want to understand this so I can move on.

I’m looking at integer types, and am wondering why this:

long number = 645456645;

has the same effect as:

long number = 654456654L;

What is the point of using that letter ‘L’ at the end? Same with the ‘U’ for unsigned case.

Answer 1

I’m looking at Integer Types, and am wondering why this –

long number = 645456645;

has the same effect as –

long number = 654456654L;

Strictly speaking, the two are not equivalent.

• In the former, your literal 645456645 has type int and is converted to long for the initialisation.
• In the latter, it’s already a long so no conversion is performed.

In this trivial example there’s obviously no functional difference, but on a platform where the range of long is not the same as the range of int, you may find that you have to use the L suffix to actually get the valid literal in the first place.