This type is a 16-bit, signed, two's-complement integer. The main reasons for using short are to match external values already present in a file or to economize on storage space where you have a large number of such values.

range of values: –32,768 to 32,767

literals: There are no short literals. You can use, without a cast, int literals provided their values will fit in 16 bits. You can use char, long, and floating-point literals if you cast them.

As with byte, assignments to short must always be cast into the result if the right-hand side of the assignment involves any arithmetic.

The last two primitive types, double and float, are floating-point arithmetic types. Before we look at the features of double and float, Limited Accuracy of Floating Point Types on page 49 describes some problems you may encounter in any language, when using floating-point arithmetic.