changing a Char to the short with the same bit structure. (2's complement issue)

Question

I want to Change a Char to the short with the same bit structure. Both are 16 bits

I understand that short are 2s complement if they were 1s complement I could use

if a < 0 {return (short) math.abs a + 2 ^ 15;} else {return (short) a;} //right?

How do I do this to 2s complement negative?

I simply want to be able to manipulate the innards of a Char in the same way as I can a Integer.

If the answer is just add one I am going to become emotional :)

Answer 1

The simple solution is to do

char ch = ...
short s = (short) ch;
char ch2 = (char) s;
// ch == ch2

Perhaps you imagine it has to be more complicated than it is ;)

I simply want to be able to manipulate the innards of a Char in the same way as I can a Integer.

In that case you don't even want a short, you want an int which is even simpler.

e.g.

// sum all the chars of a string
String s = "Hello World";
int sum = 0;
for(char ch: s.toCharArray())
    sum += ch;

If the answer is just add one I am going to become emotional

No, even less than that. :j

BTW you can do

char ch = 'A';
int i = ch + 0;
int j = ch;