cast short to int in if block

Question

I have the following code:

Int16 myShortInt;  
myShortInt = Condition ? 1 :2;

This code results in a compiler error:

cannot implicity convert type 'int' to 'short'

If I write the condition in the expanded format there is no compiler error:

if(Condition)  
{  
   myShortInt = 1;  
}  
else  
{  
   myShortInt   = 2;  
} 

Why do I get a compiler error ?

Answer 1

You get the error because literal integer numbers are treated as int by default and int does not implicitly cast to short because of loss of precision - hence the compiler error. Numbers featuring a decimal place, such as 1.0 are treated as double by default.

This answer details what modifiers are available for expressing different literals, but unfortunately you cannot do this for short:

C# short/long/int literal format?

So you will need to explicitly cast your int:

myShortInt = Condition ? (short)1 :(short)2;

Or:

myShortInt = (short)(Condition ? 1 :2);

---

There are cases when the compiler can do this for you, such as assigning a literal integer value that fits inside a short to a short:

myShortInt = 1;

Not sure why that wasn't extended to ternary actions, hopefully someone can explain the reasoning behind that.

Answer 2

Plane numbers like 1 and 2 are treated as integers by default, so your ?: returns an int, which has to be converted into short:

Int16 myShortInt;  
myShortInt = (short)(Condition ? 1 :2);