How do I make an Int8 literal in Julia?

Question

I can make "literals" of type Int64 and even Uint8 in Julia:

julia> typeof(8)
Int64

julia> typeof(0x08)
Uint8

But I haven't been able to find out how to make a literal of type Int8. I have tried a few different things:

julia> 8::Int8
ERROR: type: typeassert: expected Int8, got Int64

julia> 0x08::Int8
ERROR: type: typeassert: expected Int8, got Uint8

julia> convert(Int8, 8)
8

julia> typeof(ans)
Int8

So the application of the convert function worked, but that's a somewhat wordy expression. I was wondering if there was something a little more concise, perhaps like Rust's 8i8.

I am using Julia 0.3.3, but answers for Julia 0.4.x would be fine too.

Answer 1

More convenient than convert(Int8, 8) is Int8(8) respective int8(8) on earlier versions. The reason that few number literal notations like 8i8 exist is that it conflicts with multiplication by juxtaposition.

julia> i8=8
8

julia> 3i8
24