unsignedinteger

An unsigned integer is an integer data type that represents only nonnegative values. Unlike signed integers, unsigned integers do not reserve a bit to indicate a sign; instead, all bits contribute to magnitude. In most programming environments, unsigned integers have a fixed width, commonly 8, 16, 32, or 64 bits.

The value range is from 0 to 2^n − 1, where n is the bit width. For an 8-bit unsigned integer, the range is 0–255; for a 32-bit unsigned integer, 0–4294967295, and so on. Representations are standard binary. Many languages provide fixed-width unsigned types such as uint8_t or unsigned int.

Operations on unsigned integers are typically defined modulo 2^n in fixed-width contexts; overflow wraps around. This affects arithmetic, comparisons, shifts, and bitwise operations. In languages with arbitrary-precision integers, overflow does not occur.

Usage and considerations: unsigned integers are common for counting, array indices, sizes, bit masks, and low-level data manipulation where negative values are not meaningful. Portability benefits arise from using fixed-width unsigned types, though some languages offer broader or different unsigned semantics. Some languages treat integers as signed by default but provide unsigned arithmetic facilities or helper functions.

Examples by language: C and C++ offer unsigned int, unsigned long, and fixed-width types like uint32_t. Rust provides u8, u16, u32, u64, etc. Java exposes unsigned operations through methods on signed types rather than distinct unsigned primitives. In Python, integers are arbitrary-precision; unsigned semantics are achieved via masking or specialized libraries (e.g., numpy) when fixed width is needed.

Overall, unsigned integers provide a straightforward, nonnegative numeric model with well-defined wraparound behavior in fixed-width environments.