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

[Andrew Dinn]

On 08/04/2021 10:11, Daniel Fuchs wrote:
> 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.
The same applies for the (value >>> 0) expressions that this patch also 
removes. The reason for keeping them is to emphasize the continuity with 
the (value >>> 24), (value >>> 16), etc cases that precede them.

Since none of this will make any difference to performance I think it is 
better to keep this code as is.

regards,


Andrew Dinn
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