Data type conversion is a technique of converting the data type of a variable to another data type. Two kinds of data type conversions are available in Java.
- Automatic: Automatic conversion takes place when the following two conditions are fulfilled:
- The two types are compatible.
- The destination type is larger than the source type.
When these two conditions are met, widening conversion takes place, i.e., a narrow data type is promoted to a wider one. For example, the value of byte type will be promoted to int, as int is wider than byte in width.
- Explicit: In many cases, an automatic conversion cannot be performed. For example it cannot be performed to convert int to byte, as int is wider than byte. In such cases, conversion is performed explicitly. The general form to perform such type of narrowing conversion is as follows:
(target-type) value
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