Representation is the same, the meaning is different. e.g, 0xFF, it both represented as "FF". When it is treated as "char", it is negative number -1; but it is 255 as unsigned. When it comes to bit shifting, it is a big difference since the sign bit is not shifted. e.g, if you shift 255 right 1 bit, it will get 127; shifting "-1" right will be no effect.