Integer (computer science) at least 32 bits on any computer. Programmers may also incorrectly assume that a pointer can be converted to an integer without loss of information, which may work on (some) 32-bit computers, but fail on 64-bit computers with 64-bit pointers and 32-bit integers. A "short integer" can represent a whole number that may take less storage, while having a smaller range, compared with a standard integer on the same machine. In C, it is denoted by short. It is required to be at least 16 bits, and is often smaller than a standard integer, but this is not required. A
Integer are simpler and can be implemented more efficiently in computers. An integer is often a primitive data type in computer languages. However, integer data types can only represent a subset of all integers, since practical computers are of finite capacity. Also, in the common two's complement representation, the inherent definition of sign distinguishes between "negative" and "non-negative" rather than "negative, positive, and 0". (It is, however, certainly possible for a computer to determine whether an integer value is truly positive.) Fixed length integer approximation data types (or subsets) are denoted "int" or Integer in several programming languages (such as Algol68,