Java Programming for Beginners

Type casting

We can achieve a similar result though, using what's called a cast. This is a command in which we ask Java to treat a variable of one type like it is another one. Here we're circumventing Java's natural inclination to treat iNumber1 and iNumber2 as integers. We're stepping in and saying, "You know what Java, treat this number here as a float," and we're assuming some responsibility when we do this. Java will attempt to do what we ask, but if we choose poorly and attempt to cast one object to an object that it cannot, our program will crash.

Fortunately, we're working with primitives here, and primitive types know how to act like another type. So, we can cast the variable iNumber1 to temporarily operate like a floating-point number ...