Java char is also an int?

Question

I was trying to get some code done for class:

public int getValue(char value) {
    if (value == \'y\') return this.y;
    else if (value == \'x\') return th         


        

Answer 1

There is an implicit and natural conversion from int to char and vice-versa. Note that you thus have the usual arithmetic defined on charm which comes very handy when you want, let's say, to iterate on the alphabet :

for (char c='a' ; c<='z' ; c++) { ... }

However, note that a char is 2 bytes long whereas an int is 4 bytes long, so casting an int down to a char may result in an integer overflow.