Unary Plus Operator +

The unary plus operator (+) can appear as part of a unary expression. The operator does no explicit computation; it produces the same pure value that is produced by its operand. However, the unary + operator may perform a type conversion on its operand. The type of the operand must be an arithmetic data type, or a compile-time error occurs. If the type of the operand is byte, short, or char, the unary + operator produces an int value; otherwise the operator produces a value of the same type as its operand.

References Arithmetic Types

Unary Minus Operator -

The unary minus operator (-) can appear as part of a unary expression. The type of the operand of the unary - operator must be an arithmetic data type, or a compile-time error occurs. The operator produces a pure value that is the arithmetic negation (i.e., additive inverse) of the value of its operand.

The unary - operator may perform a type conversion. If the type of the operand is byte, short, or char, the operation converts the operand to an int before computing the value's arithmetic negation and producing an int value. Otherwise, unary - produces a value of the same type as its operand.

For integer data types, the unary - operator produces a value equivalent to subtracting its operand from zero. There are, however, negative values for which the unary - operator cannot produce a positive value; in these cases it produces the same negative value as its operand. This behavior results from the two's complement representation Java uses for integer values. The magnitude of the most negative number that can be represented using two's complement notation cannot be represented as a positive number. No exception is thrown when the unary - operator is given a value that cannot be negated. However, you can detect this situation by explicitly testing for these special values. The most negative int value is available as the predefined constant Integer.MIN_VALUE and the most negative long value is available as the predefined constant Long.MIN_VALUE.

For floating-point data types, the unary - operator changes the sign of its operand from + to - or from - to +, for both regular values, positive and negative zero, and positive and negative infinity. The only case where this is not true occurs when the operand is not-a-number (NaN). Given the value NaN, the unary - operator produces NaN.

References Arithmetic Types; Integer; Long

Boolean Negation Operator !

The Boolean negation operator (!) may appear as part of a unary expression. The type of the operand of the ! operator must be boolean, or a compile-time error occurs. If the value of its operand is false, the ! operator produces the pure boolean value true. If the value of its operand is true, the operator produces the pure boolean value false.

Here is an example that uses the Boolean negation operator:

public void paint(Graphics g) {
    if (!loaded) {
        //The next 2 lines are executed if loaded is false
        g.drawString("Loading data", 25, 25);
        return;
    }
    g.drawImage(img, 25, 25, this);
}

References Boolean Type

Bitwise Negation Operator ~

The bitwise negation operator (~) may appear as part of a unary expression. The type of the operand of the ~ operator must be an integer data type, or a compile-time error occurs. The ~ operator may perform a type conversion before it performs its computation. If the type of the operand is byte, short, or char, the operator converts its operand to int before producing a value. Otherwise the ~ operator produces a value of the same type as its operand.

After type conversion, the bitwise negation operator produces a pure value that is the bitwise complement of its operand. In other words, if a bit in the converted operand contains a one, the corresponding bit in the result contains a zero. If a bit in the converted operand contains a zero, the corresponding bit in the result contains a one.

Here's an example that shows the use of the bitwise negation operator:

// zero low order four bits
int getNibble(int x) {
    return x & ~0xf;
}

References Integer types

Casts

A Type enclosed in parentheses specifies a type cast operation. A cast may appear as part of a unary expression. A cast operation always produces a pure value of the specified type, by converting its operand to that type if necessary. This is different from a type cast in C/C++, which can produce garbage if it is given a pointer to a data type different than that implied by the pointer's declaration. If the actual data type of the operand of a cast cannot be guaranteed at compile-time, the Java compiler must produce code to check the type of the operand at runtime. In Java, any value that gets past all of the type-checking done on a cast is guaranteed to be compatible with the type specified by the cast.

A cast can convert between certain primitive types. A cast between object reference types never alters the type or content of the object, but may alter the type of the reference to the object.

Because it is not possible to convert between all types, some cast operations are permitted and others are not. Here are the rules governing casts:

• A value of any data type can be cast to its own type.

• A value of any arithmetic data type can be cast to any other arithmetic data type. Casting a floating-point value to an integer data type rounds toward zero.

• A value of the boolean data type cannot be cast to any other data type, nor can a value of any other data type be cast to boolean.

• A value of any primitive data type cannot be cast to a reference data type, nor can a reference be cast to any primitive data type.

• A reference to a class type can be cast to the type of the superclass of that class.

• A reference to a class type can be cast to the type of a subclass of that class if the reference actually refers to an object of the specified class or any of its subclasses. Unless the Java compiler can prove that the object actually referenced is of the specified class or any of its subclasses, the compiler must generate a runtime test to verify that the object is of an appropriate type. At runtime, if the object actually referenced is not of an appropriate type, a ClassCastException is thrown. Consider the following example:

  Object o = "ABC";
  String s = (String)o;   // This is okay
  Double d = (Double)o;   // Throws an exception
  

  The cast of o to String is fine because o is really a reference to a String object. The cast of o to Double throws an exception at runtime because the object that o references is not an instance of Double.

• A reference to a class type can be cast to an interface type if the reference actually refers to an object of a class that implements the specified interface. If the class of the reference being cast is a final class, the compiler can determine if the reference actually refers to an object of a class that implements the specified interface, because a final class cannot have any subclasses. Otherwise, the compiler must generate a runtime test to determine if the reference actually refers to an object of a class that implements the specified interface. At runtime, if the object actually referenced is not of a class that implements the interface, a ClassCastException is thrown. Here is an example that illustrates the rules governing casts to interface types:

  interface Weber { double flux(double x); }
  class B {}
  final class C {}
  class D implements Weber {
      public double flux(double x) {
          return Math.PI*x*x;
      }
  }
  class Intercast {
      public void main(String[] argv) {
          B b = new B();
          C c = new C();
          D d = new D();
          Weber w;
          w = (Weber)b;   // Throws an exception
          w = (Weber)c;   // Compiler complains
          w = (Weber)d;   // Okay, D implements Weber
      }
  }
  

  The cast of b to Weber is fine with the compiler because the class B might have a subclass that implements Weber. At runtime, however, this cast throws an exception because B does not implement Weber. The cast of c to Weber produces an error message from the compiler, as the C class does not implement Weber. Because C is final, it will not have any subclasses and therefore there is no possibility of c containing a reference to an object that implements the Weber interface. The cast of d to Weber is fine because the D class implements the Weber interface.

• A reference to the class Object can be cast to an array type if the reference actually refers to an array object of the specified type. The compiler generates a runtime test to determine if the reference actually refers to the specified type of array object. At runtime, if the object actually referenced is not the specified type of array, a ClassCastException is thrown.

• A reference to an interface type can be cast to a class type if the reference actually refers to an instance of the specified class or any of its subclasses. If the specified class is a final class that does not implement the referenced interface, the compiler can reject the cast because a final class cannot have any subclasses. Otherwise, the compiler generates a runtime test to determine if the reference actually refers to an object of the appropriate type. At runtime, if the object actually referenced is not of the appropriate type, a ClassCastException is thrown.

  Here is an example to illustrate these points:

  interface Weber { double flux(double x); }
  class B {}
  final class C {}
  class D implements Weber {
      public double flux(double x) {
          return Math.PI*x*x;
      }
  }
  class Intercast {
      public void doit(Weber w) {
          B b = (B)w;   // May throw an exception
          C c = (C)w;   // Compiler complains
          D d = (D)w;   // Okay
      }
  }
  

  The cast of w to class B is fine with the compiler even though B does not implement Weber. The compiler lets it pass because B might have a subclass that implements Weber and w could contain a reference to that class. However, at runtime, the cast will throw an exception if the object actually referenced is not an instance of B or a subclass of B. The cast of w to class C produces an error message from the compiler. C does not implement Weber and C cannot have any subclasses because it is final; any object that implements Weber cannot be an instance of C. The cast of w to class D is fine at compile-time because D implements Weber. At runtime, if w references an object that is not an instance of D, a ClassCastException is thrown.

• A reference to an interface type can be cast to another interface type if the reference actually refers to an object of a class that implements the specified interface. If the referenced interface extends the specified interface, the compiler knows that the cast is legal. Otherwise, the compiler generates a runtime test to determine if the reference actually refers to an object that implements the specified interface. At runtime, if the object actually referenced does not implement the specified interface, a ClassCastException is thrown.

  Here is an example to illustrate these points:

  interface Weber { double flux(double x); }
  interface Dyn { double squeeze(); }
  interface Press extends Dyn {
      double squeeze(double theta);
  }
  class D implements Press {
      public double squeeze() { return Math.PI; }
      public double squeeze(double theta) {
          return Math.PI*Math.sin(theta);
      }
  }
  class Interinter {
      public static void doit(D d) {
          Dyn dyn = d;          // Okay
          Weber w = (Weber)d;   // May throw exception
      }
  }
  

  The assignment of d to dyn works because d is of class D, D implements Press, and Press extends Dyn. Therefore, d refers to an object that implements Dyn and we have assignment compatibility. The compiler lets the cast of d to Weber pass because there may be a subclass of D that implements Weber. At runtime, the cast will throw an exception if D does not implement Weber.

• A reference to an array object can be cast to the class type Object.

• A reference to an array object can be cast to another array type if either of the following is true:
  • The elements of the referenced array and the elements of the specified array type are of the same primitive type.

  • The elements of the referenced array are of a type that can be cast to the type of the elements of the specified array type.

Any cast operation not covered by the preceding rules is not allowed and the Java compiler issues an error message.

References Arithmetic Types; Array Types; Boolean Type; Class Types; Interface Types; Runtime exceptions