Question

char x = (char)-1;

is valid in Java, but shows me the error (Overflow in constant value computation)

Should I use a different datatype in C#?

Answer 1

The error occurs because C# is smarter about literals (“constant computation”). In C# one could do…

int x = -1;
char c = (char)x;
int y = c;
// y is 0xffff, as per Java

However, do note that 0xFFFF is an invalid Unicode character 🙂

Happy coding.

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Using unchecked will also “work”:

unchecked {
  char x = (char)-1;
}