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Academically Natured Question:
How can the byte data of an Int32 with the value of -1 be cast into an UInt32? (can SWIFT do that?)

Understanding:
I know that -1 isn't a value that can be represented by an Unsigned Integer, as UInts only contain Integers above -1

However I also know that both Int32 and UInt32 take the same amount of space in Bytes (4*8=32).
That byte space should be able to be used for either type, regardless if it represents the same value... which it obviously wouldn't.

Conclusion:
There should be some simple way to take the raw bit data of an Int32 and use it for a UInt32...

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  • What have you tried? Why is this a Swift/Objective-C question (unless you show code, this is a general numerical question)? Commented Dec 18, 2014 at 22:23

1 Answer 1

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Cast the variable via bitPattern (thanks Jthora). Plenty of help here on SO for this:

For 32-bits, 0xffffffff=> -1 when signed or 4294967295 unsigned.

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1 Comment

The answer is casting Int32 as UInt32 using the bitPattern: method! (did not know about bitPattern: method) Edit your answer to include the bitPattern thing and I'll green check ya!

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