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What is the difference between an int and an Integer in Java and C#?

What is the difference between an int and an Integer in Java and C#?
"I was reading More Joel on Software when I came across Joel Spolsky saying something about a particular type of programmer knowing the difference between an int and an Integer in Java/C# (Object-Oriented Programming Languages).

So, what is the difference?"

Asked by: Guest | Views: 416
Total answers/comments: 5
Guest [Entry]

"In Java, the 'int' type is a primitive, whereas the 'Integer' type is an object.

In C#, the 'int' type is the same as System.Int32 and is a value type (ie more like the java 'int'). An integer (just like any other value types) can be boxed (""wrapped"") into an object.

The differences between objects and primitives are somewhat beyond the scope of this question, but to summarize:

Objects provide facilities for polymorphism, are passed by reference (or more accurately have references passed by value), and are allocated from the heap. Conversely, primitives are immutable types that are passed by value and are often allocated from the stack."
Guest [Entry]

"Well, in Java an int is a primitive while an Integer is an Object. Meaning, if you made a new Integer:

Integer i = new Integer(6);

You could call some method on i:

String s = i.toString();//sets s the string representation of i

Whereas with an int:

int i = 6;

You cannot call any methods on it, because it is simply a primitive. So:

String s = i.toString();//will not work!!!

would produce an error, because int is not an object.

int is one of the few primitives in Java (along with char and some others). I'm not 100% sure, but I'm thinking that the Integer object more or less just has an int property and a whole bunch of methods to interact with that property (like the toString() method for example). So Integer is a fancy way to work with an int (Just as perhaps String is a fancy way to work with a group of chars).

I know that Java isn't C, but since I've never programmed in C this is the closest I could come to the answer. Hope this helps!

Integer object javadoc

Integer Ojbect vs. int primitive comparison"
Guest [Entry]

"I'll add to the excellent answers given above, and talk about boxing and unboxing, and how this applies to Java (although C# has it too). I'll use just Java terminology because I am more au fait with that.

As the answers mentioned, int is just a number (called the unboxed type), whereas Integer is an object (which contains the number, hence a boxed type). In Java terms, that means (apart from not being able to call methods on int), you cannot store int or other non-object types in collections (List, Map, etc.). In order to store them, you must first box them up in its corresponding boxed type.

Java 5 onwards have something called auto-boxing and auto-unboxing which allow the boxing/unboxing to be done behind the scenes. Compare and contrast: Java 5 version:

Deque<Integer> queue;

void add(int n) {
queue.add(n);
}

int remove() {
return queue.remove();
}

Java 1.4 or earlier (no generics either):

Deque queue;

void add(int n) {
queue.add(Integer.valueOf(n));
}

int remove() {
return ((Integer) queue.remove()).intValue();
}

It must be noted that despite the brevity in the Java 5 version, both versions generate identical bytecode. Thus, although auto-boxing and auto-unboxing are very convenient because you write less code, these operations do happens behind the scenes, with the same runtime costs, so you still have to be aware of their existence.

Hope this helps!"
Guest [Entry]

"I'll just post here since some of the other posts are slightly inaccurate in relation to C#.

Correct: int is an alias for System.Int32.
Wrong: float is not an alias for System.Float, but for System.Single

Basically, int is a reserved keyword in the C# programming language, and is an alias for the System.Int32 value type.

float and Float is not the same however, as the right system type for ''float'' is System.Single. There are some types like this that has reserved keywords that doesn't seem to match the type names directly.

In C# there is no difference between ''int'' and ''System.Int32'', or any of the other pairs or keywords/system types, except for when defining enums. With enums you can specify the storage size to use and in this case you can only use the reserved keyword, and not the system runtime type name.

Wether the value in the int will be stored on the stack, in memory, or as a referenced heap object depends on the context and how you use it.

This declaration in a method:

int i;

defines a variable i of type System.Int32, living in a register or on the stack, depending on optimizations. The same declaration in a type (struct or class) defines a member field. The same declaration in a method argument list defines a parameter, with the same storage options as for a local variable. (note that this paragraph is not valid if you start pulling iterator methods into the mix, these are different beasts altogether)

To get a heap object, you can use boxing:

object o = i;

this will create a boxed copy of the contents of i on the heap. In IL you can access methods on the heap object directly, but in C# you need to cast it back to an int, which will create another copy. Thus, the object on the heap cannot easily be changed in C# without creating a new boxed copy of a new int value. (Ugh, this paragraph doesn't read all that easily.)"
Qpxwkr [Entry]

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