RFR: 8264896: Remove redundant '& 0xFF' from int-to-byte cast

[Daniel Fuchs]

On Thu, 8 Apr 2021 08:54:35 GMT, Sebastian Stenzel <github.com+1204330+overheadhunter at openjdk.org> wrote:

>> When we do
>> byte b1 = (byte) (value & 0xFF);
>> we keep from int only 1 lower byte and exactly the same can be achieved with plain cast. See the test below:
>> public class Main {
>>   public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
>>     IntStream.range(Integer.MIN_VALUE, Integer.MAX_VALUE).forEach(value -> {
>>       byte b1 = (byte) (value & 0xFF);
>>       byte b2 = (byte) value;
>>       if (b1 != b2) {
>>         throw new RuntimeException("" + value);
>>       }
>>     });
>> }
>> 
>> Also tier1 and tier2 are both OK.
>
> I don't think these masks have been added because they are _required_ but rather because they explicitly show the intention: You can immediately see that losing the MSBs of an int during the cast is _not_ just an error.

I agree with Sebastian. I believe the original code was clearer.

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PR: https://git.openjdk.java.net/jdk/pull/2826