The Flavors of Integer
The next set of primitive types in Java contains what are known as the integer types:
byte
int
long
short
The types of integer differ only in the range of values they can hold. For instance, a byte cannot hold any number that is greater than 127, but a long can easily hold the world's population count (many times over actually).
Why are there so many types of integer? Couldn't you just declare every integer variable you need as a long and not worry about size restrictions? Although this would work in many cases, it is a confusing and inefficient use of a limited resource, namely the memory available to execute your programs. When you specify a meaningful integer type for a variable, you are providing information about the ...
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