Should I use int or Int32

Question

In C   int and Int32 are the same thing  but I ve read a number of times that int is preferred over Int32 with no reason given  Is there a reason  and should I care

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The two are indeed synonymous  int will be a little more familiar looking  Int32 makes the 32-bitness more explicit to those reading your code  I would be inclined to use int where I just need  an integer   Int32 where the size is important  cryptographic code  structures  so future maintainers will know it s safe to enlarge an int if appropriate  but should take care changing Int32s in the same way   The resulting code will be identical  the difference is purely one of readability or code appearance

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Once upon a time  the int datatype was pegged to the register size of the machine targeted by the compiler  So  for example  a compiler for a 16-bit system would use a 16-bit integer   However  we thankfully don t see much 16-bit any more  and when 64-bit started to get popular people were more concerned with making it compatible with older software and 32-bit had been around so long that for most compilers an int is just assumed to be 32 bits

User · Answer

int is the same as System Int32 and when compiled it will turn into the same thing in CIL     We use int by convention in C  since C  wants to look like C and C    and Java  and that is what we use there     BTW  I do end up using System Int32 when declaring imports of various Windows API functions  I am not sure if this is a defined convention or not  but it reminds me that I am going to an external DLL

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The bytes int can hold depends on what you compiled it for  so when you compile your program for 32 bit processors  it holds numbers from 2 32 2 to -2 32 2 1  while compiled for 64 bit it can hold from 2 64 2 to -2 64 2 1  int32 will always hold 2 32 values   Edit   Ignore my answer  I didn t see C   My answer was intended for C and C    I ve never used C

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Also consider Int16  If you need to store an Integer in memory in your application and you are concerned about the amount of memory used  then you could go with Int16 since it uses less memeory and has a smaller min max range than Int32  which is what int is

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int is the C  language s shortcut for System Int32  Whilst this does mean that Microsoft could change this mapping  a post on FogCreek s discussions stated  source    On the 64 bit issue -- Microsoft is indeed working on a 64-bit version of the  NET Framework but I m pretty sure int will NOT map to 64 bit on that system     Reasons   1  The C  ECMA standard specifically says that int is 32 bit and long is 64 bit   2  Microsoft introduced additional properties  amp  methods in Framework version 1 1 that return long values instead of int values  such as Array GetLongLength in addition to Array GetLength   So I think it s safe to say that all built-in C  types will keep their current mapping

User · Answer

The two are indeed synonymous  int will be a little more familiar looking  Int32 makes the 32-bitness more explicit to those reading your code  I would be inclined to use int where I just need  an integer   Int32 where the size is important  cryptographic code  structures  so future maintainers will know it s safe to enlarge an int if appropriate  but should take care changing Int32s in the same way   The resulting code will be identical  the difference is purely one of readability or code appearance

User · Answer

You should not care   If size is a concern I would use byte  short  int  then long   The only reason you would use an int larger than int32 is if you need a number higher than 2147483647 or lower than -2147483648   Other than that I wouldn t care  there are plenty of other items to be concerned with

User · Answer

You should not care in most programming languages  unless you need to write very specific mathematical functions  or code optimized for one specific architecture    Just make sure the size of the type is enough for you  use something bigger than an Int if you know you ll need more than 32-bits for example

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Some compilers have different sizes for int on different platforms  not C  specific   Some coding standards  MISRA C  requires that all types used are size specified  i e  Int32 and not int    It is also good to specify prefixes for different type variables  e g  b for 8 bit byte  w for 16 bit word  and l for 32 bit long word    Int32 lMyVariable   You should care because it makes your code more portable and more maintainable   Portable may not be applicable to C  if you are always going to use C  and the C  specification will never change in this regard   Maintainable ihmo will always be applicable  because the person maintaining your code may not be aware of this particular C  specification  and miss a bug were the int occasionaly becomes more than 2147483647   In a simple for-loop that counts for example the months of the year  you won t care  but when you use the variable in a context where it could possibly owerflow  you should care   You should also care if you are going to do bit-wise operations on it

User · Answer

I always use the system types - e g   Int32 instead of int  I adopted this practice after reading Applied  NET Framework Programming - author Jeffrey Richter makes a good case for using the full type names   Here are the two points that stuck with me    Type names can vary between  NET languages  For example  in C   long maps to System Int64 while in C   with managed extensions  long maps to Int32  Since languages can be mixed-and-matched while using  NET  you can be sure that using the explicit class name will always be clearer  no matter the reader s preferred language  Many framework methods have type names as part of their method names   BinaryReader br   new BinaryReader               float val   br ReadSingle           OK  but it looks a little odd    Single val   br ReadSingle          OK  and is easier to read

User · Answer

In my experience it s been a convention thing   I m not aware of any technical reason to use int over Int32  but it s    Quicker to type  More familiar to the typical C  developer  A different color in the default visual studio syntax highlighting    I m especially fond of that last one

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int is an alias for System Int32  as defined in this table  Built-In Types Table  C  Reference

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You should not care   If size is a concern I would use byte  short  int  then long   The only reason you would use an int larger than int32 is if you need a number higher than 2147483647 or lower than -2147483648   Other than that I wouldn t care  there are plenty of other items to be concerned with

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I use int in the event that Microsoft changes the default implementation for an integer to some new fangled version  let s call it Int32b     Microsoft can then change the int alias to Int32b  and I don t have to change any of my code to take advantage of their new  and hopefully improved  integer implementation   The same goes for any of the type keywords

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Though they are  mostly  identical  see below for the one  bug  difference   you definitely should care and you should use Int32    The name for a 16-bit integer is Int16  For a 64 bit integer it s Int64  and for a 32-bit integer the intuitive choice is  int or Int32  The question of the size of a variable of type Int16  Int32  or Int64 is self-referencing  but the question of the size of a variable of type int is a perfectly valid question and questions  no matter how trivial  are distracting  lead to confusion  waste time  hinder discussion  etc   the fact this question exists proves the point   Using Int32 promotes that the developer is conscious of their choice of type  How big is an int again  Oh yeah  32  The likelihood that the size of the type will actually be considered is greater when the size is included in the name  Using Int32 also promotes knowledge of the other choices  When people aren t forced to at least recognize there are alternatives it become far too easy for int to become  THE integer type   The class within the framework intended to interact with 32-bit integers is named Int32  Once again  which is  more intuitive  less confusing  lacks an  unnecessary  translation  not a translation in the system  but in the mind of the developer   etc   int lMax   Int32 MaxValue or Int32 lMax   Int32 MaxValue  int isn t a keyword in all  NET languages  Although there are arguments why it s not likely to ever change  int may not always be an Int32    The drawbacks are two extra characters to type and  bug    This won t compile  public enum MyEnum   Int32       AEnum   0     But this will   public enum MyEnum   int       AEnum   0

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A while back I was working on a project with Microsoft when we had a visit from someone on the Microsoft  NET CLR product team  This person coded examples and when he defined his variables he used    Int32    vs     int    and    String    vs     string      I had remembered seeing this style in other example code from Microsoft   So  I did some research and found that everyone says that there is no difference between the    Int32    and    int    except for syntax coloring  In fact  I found a lot of material suggesting you use    Int32    to make your code more readable  So  I adopted the style   The other day I did find a difference  The compiler doesn   t allow you to type enum using the    Int32     but it does when you use    int     Don   t ask me why because I don   t know yet   Example   public  enum MyEnum   Int32       AEnum   0     This works   public enum MyEnum   int       AEnum   0     Taken from  Int32 notation vs  int

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There is no difference between int and Int32  but as int is a language keyword many people prefer it stylistically  just as with string vs String

User · Answer

You shouldn t care  You should use int most of the time  It will help the porting of your program to a wider architecture in the future  currently int is an alias to System Int32 but that could change   Only when the bit width of the variable matters  for instance  to control the layout in memory of a struct  you should use int32 and others  with the associated  using System

User · Answer

The bytes int can hold depends on what you compiled it for  so when you compile your program for 32 bit processors  it holds numbers from 2 32 2 to -2 32 2 1  while compiled for 64 bit it can hold from 2 64 2 to -2 64 2 1  int32 will always hold 2 32 values   Edit   Ignore my answer  I didn t see C   My answer was intended for C and C    I ve never used C

User · Answer

You shouldn t care  You should use int most of the time  It will help the porting of your program to a wider architecture in the future  currently int is an alias to System Int32 but that could change   Only when the bit width of the variable matters  for instance  to control the layout in memory of a struct  you should use int32 and others  with the associated  using System

User · Answer

Byte size for types is not too interesting when you only have to deal with a single language  and for code which you don t have to remind yourself about math overflows   The part that becomes interesting is when you bridge between one language to another  C  to COM object  etc   or you re doing some bit-shifting or masking and you need to remind yourself  and your code-review co-wokers  of the size of the data  In practice  I usually use Int32 just to remind myself what size they are because I do write managed C    to bridge to C  for example  as well as unmanaged native C    Long as you probably know  in C  is 64-bits  but in native C    it ends up as 32-bits  or char is unicode 16-bits while in C   it is 8-bits  But how do we know this  The answer is  because we ve looked it up in the manual and it said so  With time and experiences  you will start to be more type-conscientious when you do write codes to bridge between C  and other languages  some readers here are thinking  quot why would you  quot    but IMHO I believe it is a better practice because I cannot remember what I ve coded last week  or I don t have to specify in my API document that  quot this parameter is 32-bits integer quot    In F   although I ve never used it   they define int  int32  and nativeint  The same question should rise   quot which one do I use  quot   As others has mentioned  in most cases  it should not matter  should be transparent   But I for one would choose int32 and uint32 just to remove the ambiguities  I guess it would just depend on what applications you are coding  who s using it  what coding practices you and your team follows  etc  to justify when to use Int32  Addendum  Incidentally  since I ve answered this question few years ago  I ve started using both F  and Rust   F   it s all about type-inferences  and bridging InterOp ing between C  and F   the native types matches  so no concern  I ve rarely had to explicitly define types in F   it s almost a sin if you don t use type-inferences    In Rust  they completely have removed such ambiguities and you d have to use i32 vs u32  all  in all  reducing ambiguities helps reduce bugs

User · Answer

It doesn t matter  int is the language keyword and Int32 its actual system type   See also my answer here to a related question

User · Answer

int is the C  language s shortcut for System Int32  Whilst this does mean that Microsoft could change this mapping  a post on FogCreek s discussions stated  source    On the 64 bit issue -- Microsoft is indeed working on a 64-bit version of the  NET Framework but I m pretty sure int will NOT map to 64 bit on that system     Reasons   1  The C  ECMA standard specifically says that int is 32 bit and long is 64 bit   2  Microsoft introduced additional properties  amp  methods in Framework version 1 1 that return long values instead of int values  such as Array GetLongLength in addition to Array GetLength   So I think it s safe to say that all built-in C  types will keep their current mapping

User · Answer

You shouldn t care  You should use int most of the time  It will help the porting of your program to a wider architecture in the future  currently int is an alias to System Int32 but that could change   Only when the bit width of the variable matters  for instance  to control the layout in memory of a struct  you should use int32 and others  with the associated  using System

User · Answer

ECMA-334 2006 C  Language Specification  p18       Each of the predefined types is shorthand for a system-provided type  For example  the keyword int refers to the struct System Int32  As a matter of style  use of the keyword is favoured over use of the complete system type name

User · Answer

I always use the system types - e g   Int32 instead of int  I adopted this practice after reading Applied  NET Framework Programming - author Jeffrey Richter makes a good case for using the full type names   Here are the two points that stuck with me    Type names can vary between  NET languages  For example  in C   long maps to System Int64 while in C   with managed extensions  long maps to Int32  Since languages can be mixed-and-matched while using  NET  you can be sure that using the explicit class name will always be clearer  no matter the reader s preferred language  Many framework methods have type names as part of their method names   BinaryReader br   new BinaryReader               float val   br ReadSingle           OK  but it looks a little odd    Single val   br ReadSingle          OK  and is easier to read

User · Answer

They both declare 32 bit integers  and as other posters stated  which one you use is mostly a matter of syntactic style   However they don t always behave the same way   For instance  the C  compiler won t allow this   public enum MyEnum   Int32       member1   0     but it will allow this   public enum MyEnum   int       member1   0     Go figure

User · Answer

It doesn t matter  int is the language keyword and Int32 its actual system type   See also my answer here to a related question

User · Answer

Using the Int32 type requires a namespace reference to System  or fully qualifying  System Int32    I tend toward int  because it doesn t require a namespace import  therefore reducing the chance of namespace collision in some cases  When compiled to IL  there is no difference between the two

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It makes no difference in practice and in time you will adopt your own convention   I tend to use the keyword when assigning a type  and the class version when using static methods and such   int total   Int32 Parse  1009

User · Answer

It makes no difference in practice and in time you will adopt your own convention   I tend to use the keyword when assigning a type  and the class version when using static methods and such   int total   Int32 Parse  1009

User · Answer

Also consider Int16  If you need to store an Integer in memory in your application and you are concerned about the amount of memory used  then you could go with Int16 since it uses less memeory and has a smaller min max range than Int32  which is what int is

User · Answer

int is an alias for System Int32  as defined in this table  Built-In Types Table  C  Reference

User · Answer

Using the Int32 type requires a namespace reference to System  or fully qualifying  System Int32    I tend toward int  because it doesn t require a namespace import  therefore reducing the chance of namespace collision in some cases  When compiled to IL  there is no difference between the two

User · Answer

In my experience it s been a convention thing   I m not aware of any technical reason to use int over Int32  but it s    Quicker to type  More familiar to the typical C  developer  A different color in the default visual studio syntax highlighting    I m especially fond of that last one

User · Answer

Once upon a time  the int datatype was pegged to the register size of the machine targeted by the compiler  So  for example  a compiler for a 16-bit system would use a 16-bit integer   However  we thankfully don t see much 16-bit any more  and when 64-bit started to get popular people were more concerned with making it compatible with older software and 32-bit had been around so long that for most compilers an int is just assumed to be 32 bits

User · Answer

int is the same as System Int32 and when compiled it will turn into the same thing in CIL     We use int by convention in C  since C  wants to look like C and C    and Java  and that is what we use there     BTW  I do end up using System Int32 when declaring imports of various Windows API functions  I am not sure if this is a defined convention or not  but it reminds me that I am going to an external DLL

User · Answer

Also consider Int16  If you need to store an Integer in memory in your application and you are concerned about the amount of memory used  then you could go with Int16 since it uses less memeory and has a smaller min max range than Int32  which is what int is

User · Answer

You should not care   If size is a concern I would use byte  short  int  then long   The only reason you would use an int larger than int32 is if you need a number higher than 2147483647 or lower than -2147483648   Other than that I wouldn t care  there are plenty of other items to be concerned with

User · Answer

I always use the system types - e g   Int32 instead of int  I adopted this practice after reading Applied  NET Framework Programming - author Jeffrey Richter makes a good case for using the full type names   Here are the two points that stuck with me    Type names can vary between  NET languages  For example  in C   long maps to System Int64 while in C   with managed extensions  long maps to Int32  Since languages can be mixed-and-matched while using  NET  you can be sure that using the explicit class name will always be clearer  no matter the reader s preferred language  Many framework methods have type names as part of their method names   BinaryReader br   new BinaryReader               float val   br ReadSingle           OK  but it looks a little odd    Single val   br ReadSingle          OK  and is easier to read

User · Answer

I use int in the event that Microsoft changes the default implementation for an integer to some new fangled version  let s call it Int32b     Microsoft can then change the int alias to Int32b  and I don t have to change any of my code to take advantage of their new  and hopefully improved  integer implementation   The same goes for any of the type keywords

User · Answer

As already stated  int   Int32   To be safe  be sure to always use int MinValue int MaxValue when implementing anything that cares about the data type boundaries   Suppose  NET decided that int would now be Int64  your code would be less dependent on the bounds

User · Answer

I always use the system types - e g   Int32 instead of int  I adopted this practice after reading Applied  NET Framework Programming - author Jeffrey Richter makes a good case for using the full type names   Here are the two points that stuck with me    Type names can vary between  NET languages  For example  in C   long maps to System Int64 while in C   with managed extensions  long maps to Int32  Since languages can be mixed-and-matched while using  NET  you can be sure that using the explicit class name will always be clearer  no matter the reader s preferred language  Many framework methods have type names as part of their method names   BinaryReader br   new BinaryReader               float val   br ReadSingle           OK  but it looks a little odd    Single val   br ReadSingle          OK  and is easier to read

User · Answer

Some compilers have different sizes for int on different platforms  not C  specific   Some coding standards  MISRA C  requires that all types used are size specified  i e  Int32 and not int    It is also good to specify prefixes for different type variables  e g  b for 8 bit byte  w for 16 bit word  and l for 32 bit long word    Int32 lMyVariable   You should care because it makes your code more portable and more maintainable   Portable may not be applicable to C  if you are always going to use C  and the C  specification will never change in this regard   Maintainable ihmo will always be applicable  because the person maintaining your code may not be aware of this particular C  specification  and miss a bug were the int occasionaly becomes more than 2147483647   In a simple for-loop that counts for example the months of the year  you won t care  but when you use the variable in a context where it could possibly owerflow  you should care   You should also care if you are going to do bit-wise operations on it

User · Answer

You shouldn t care  You should use int most of the time  It will help the porting of your program to a wider architecture in the future  currently int is an alias to System Int32 but that could change   Only when the bit width of the variable matters  for instance  to control the layout in memory of a struct  you should use int32 and others  with the associated  using System

User · Answer

There is no difference between int and Int32  but as int is a language keyword many people prefer it stylistically  just as with string vs String

User · Answer

Though they are  mostly  identical  see below for the one  bug  difference   you definitely should care and you should use Int32    The name for a 16-bit integer is Int16  For a 64 bit integer it s Int64  and for a 32-bit integer the intuitive choice is  int or Int32  The question of the size of a variable of type Int16  Int32  or Int64 is self-referencing  but the question of the size of a variable of type int is a perfectly valid question and questions  no matter how trivial  are distracting  lead to confusion  waste time  hinder discussion  etc   the fact this question exists proves the point   Using Int32 promotes that the developer is conscious of their choice of type  How big is an int again  Oh yeah  32  The likelihood that the size of the type will actually be considered is greater when the size is included in the name  Using Int32 also promotes knowledge of the other choices  When people aren t forced to at least recognize there are alternatives it become far too easy for int to become  THE integer type   The class within the framework intended to interact with 32-bit integers is named Int32  Once again  which is  more intuitive  less confusing  lacks an  unnecessary  translation  not a translation in the system  but in the mind of the developer   etc   int lMax   Int32 MaxValue or Int32 lMax   Int32 MaxValue  int isn t a keyword in all  NET languages  Although there are arguments why it s not likely to ever change  int may not always be an Int32    The drawbacks are two extra characters to type and  bug    This won t compile  public enum MyEnum   Int32       AEnum   0     But this will   public enum MyEnum   int       AEnum   0

User · Answer

int is a C  keyword and is unambiguous     Most of the time it doesn t matter but two things that go against Int32    You need to have a  using System   statement   using  int  requires no using statement  It is possible to define your own class called Int32  which would be silly and confusing    int always means int

User · Answer

A while back I was working on a project with Microsoft when we had a visit from someone on the Microsoft  NET CLR product team  This person coded examples and when he defined his variables he used    Int32    vs     int    and    String    vs     string      I had remembered seeing this style in other example code from Microsoft   So  I did some research and found that everyone says that there is no difference between the    Int32    and    int    except for syntax coloring  In fact  I found a lot of material suggesting you use    Int32    to make your code more readable  So  I adopted the style   The other day I did find a difference  The compiler doesn   t allow you to type enum using the    Int32     but it does when you use    int     Don   t ask me why because I don   t know yet   Example   public  enum MyEnum   Int32       AEnum   0     This works   public enum MyEnum   int       AEnum   0     Taken from  Int32 notation vs  int

User · Answer

ECMA-334 2006 C  Language Specification  p18       Each of the predefined types is shorthand for a system-provided type  For example  the keyword int refers to the struct System Int32  As a matter of style  use of the keyword is favoured over use of the complete system type name

User · Answer

They both declare 32 bit integers  and as other posters stated  which one you use is mostly a matter of syntactic style   However they don t always behave the same way   For instance  the C  compiler won t allow this   public enum MyEnum   Int32       member1   0     but it will allow this   public enum MyEnum   int       member1   0     Go figure

User · Answer

You should not care in most programming languages  unless you need to write very specific mathematical functions  or code optimized for one specific architecture    Just make sure the size of the type is enough for you  use something bigger than an Int if you know you ll need more than 32-bits for example

User · Answer

Also consider Int16  If you need to store an Integer in memory in your application and you are concerned about the amount of memory used  then you could go with Int16 since it uses less memeory and has a smaller min max range than Int32  which is what int is

User · Answer

Byte size for types is not too interesting when you only have to deal with a single language  and for code which you don t have to remind yourself about math overflows   The part that becomes interesting is when you bridge between one language to another  C  to COM object  etc   or you re doing some bit-shifting or masking and you need to remind yourself  and your code-review co-wokers  of the size of the data  In practice  I usually use Int32 just to remind myself what size they are because I do write managed C    to bridge to C  for example  as well as unmanaged native C    Long as you probably know  in C  is 64-bits  but in native C    it ends up as 32-bits  or char is unicode 16-bits while in C   it is 8-bits  But how do we know this  The answer is  because we ve looked it up in the manual and it said so  With time and experiences  you will start to be more type-conscientious when you do write codes to bridge between C  and other languages  some readers here are thinking  quot why would you  quot    but IMHO I believe it is a better practice because I cannot remember what I ve coded last week  or I don t have to specify in my API document that  quot this parameter is 32-bits integer quot    In F   although I ve never used it   they define int  int32  and nativeint  The same question should rise   quot which one do I use  quot   As others has mentioned  in most cases  it should not matter  should be transparent   But I for one would choose int32 and uint32 just to remove the ambiguities  I guess it would just depend on what applications you are coding  who s using it  what coding practices you and your team follows  etc  to justify when to use Int32  Addendum  Incidentally  since I ve answered this question few years ago  I ve started using both F  and Rust   F   it s all about type-inferences  and bridging InterOp ing between C  and F   the native types matches  so no concern  I ve rarely had to explicitly define types in F   it s almost a sin if you don t use type-inferences    In Rust  they completely have removed such ambiguities and you d have to use i32 vs u32  all  in all  reducing ambiguities helps reduce bugs

User · Answer

Use of Int or Int32 are the same Int is just sugar to simplify the code for the reader   Use the Nullable variant Int  or Int32  when you work with databases on fields containing null  That will save you from a lot of runtime issues

User · Answer

As already stated  int   Int32   To be safe  be sure to always use int MinValue int MaxValue when implementing anything that cares about the data type boundaries   Suppose  NET decided that int would now be Int64  your code would be less dependent on the bounds

User · Answer

Use of Int or Int32 are the same Int is just sugar to simplify the code for the reader   Use the Nullable variant Int  or Int32  when you work with databases on fields containing null  That will save you from a lot of runtime issues

User · Answer

int is a C  keyword and is unambiguous     Most of the time it doesn t matter but two things that go against Int32    You need to have a  using System   statement   using  int  requires no using statement  It is possible to define your own class called Int32  which would be silly and confusing    int always means int

[c#] Should I use int or Int32

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