C# 5.0 Programmer's Reference

Appendix B Data Types

The following table summarizes the C# data types.

Type	Size	Value
bool	2 bytes	Must be true or false.
byte	1 byte	0 to 255 (unsigned byte).
sbyte	1 byte	–128 to 127 (signed byte).
char	2 bytes	0 to 65,535 (unsigned character).
short	2 bytes	–32,768 to 32,767.
ushort	2 bytes	0 through 65,535 (unsigned short).
int	4 bytes	–2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647.
uint	4 bytes	0 through 4,294,967,295 (unsigned integer).
long	8 bytes	–9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 9,223,372,036,854,775,807.
ulong	8 bytes	0 through 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 (unsigned long).
decimal	16 bytes	0 to +/–79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,335 with no decimal point. 0 to +/–7.9228162514264337593543950335 with 28 significant diits.
float	4 bytes	–3.4028235E+38 to –1.401298E-45 (negative values). 1.401298E–45 to 3.4028235E+38 (positive values).
double	8 bytes	–1.79769313486231570E+308 to –4.94065645841246544E–324 (negative values). 4.94065645841246544E–324 through 1.79769313486231570E+308 (positive values).
string	varies	Depending on the platform, approximately 0 to 2 billion Unicode characters.
DateTime	8 bytes	January 1, 0001 0:0:00 to December 31, 9999 11:59:59 p.m.
object	4 bytes	Points to any type of data.
(class)	varies	Class members have their own ranges.
(structure)	varies	Structure members have their own ranges.

Casting and Converting Values

You can use a cast to convert a value into a compatible data type. For example, the following code declares and initializes a long variable. It then uses a ...