C# 0 The Complete Reference

PART I

C h a p t e r   3 :  

D a t a   T y p e s ,   L i t e r a l s ,   a n d   V a r i a b l e s  

59

PART IPART I

Type Conversion in Expressions

In addition to occurring within an assignment, type conversions also take place within an 

expression. In an expression, you can freely mix two or more different types of data as long 

as they are compatible with each other. For example, you can mix 

short

 and 

long

 within an 

expression because they are both numeric types. When different types of data are mixed 

within an expression, they are converted to the same type, on an operation-by-operation basis.

The conversions are accomplished through the use of C#’s 

type promotion rules.

 Here is 

the algorithm that they define for binary operations:

IF one operand is a 

decimal

, THEN the other operand is promoted to