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Following rules are observed when you assign a value of a primitive type to a variable of another primitive:
1. You can assign any non-boolean value to any non-boolean variable. The type conversion takes place only if the type is changed to a wider type.
For example, the following code compiles as long is wider datatype than int.
int intNumber = 5;
long longNumber;
longNumber = intNumber; // int value assigned to a wider type long
Java will automatically convert the int value 5 into long value and then assign it to long variable.
2. You cannot assign a non-boolean value to a non-boolean variable if the type is changed to a narrower type.
For example, the following code does not compile as short is a narrower datatype than int.
int intNumber = 5;
short shortNumber = intNumber; // Error! short is narrower than int
Java cannot automatically convert the int value 5 into short value.
3. You cannot assign a boolean value to a non-boolean primitive variable or vice versa.
The boolean and all other non-boolean primitive types are incompatible. For example, following code will not compile.
int number = true; // Error! boolean to non-boolean not allowed
You cannot store true in int variable. Following code will also fail to compile as you cannot store a int value in boolean variable either:
int number = 1;
boolean result = number; // Error! non-boolean to boolean not allowed
You cannot assign a boolean value to non-boolean variable as well. The boolean value can be store only in boolean variable.