Convert unsigned byte to signed byte

Question

Is there an easy and elegant way to convert an unsigned byte value to a signed byte value in java? For example, if all I have is the int value 240 (in binary (24 bits + 1111

Answer 1

public int getUnsignedByte(byte[] bytes, int offset) {
    return (bytes[offset] & 0xFF);
}

should do the work.