How are integers cast to bytes in Java?

Question

I know Java doesn\'t allow unsigned types, so I was wondering how it casts an integer to a byte. Say I have an integer a with a value of 255 and I cast the integer to a byte

Answer 1

Byte is 8 bit. 8 bit can represent 256 numbers.(2 raise to 8=256)
Now first bit is used for sign. [if positive then first bit=0, if negative first bit= 1]
let's say you want to convert integer 1099 to byte. just devide 1099 by 256. remainder is your byte representation of int
examples
1099/256 => remainder= 75
-1099/256 =>remainder=-75
2049/256 => remainder= 1
reason why? look at this image http://i.stack.imgur.com/FYwqr.png