`Int16`, `Int32`, `Int64`

The Int16, Int32 and Int64 types are aliased to keywords. Typically C# programmers prefer the C-style numeric types, which are easier to read.

Compiled programs

When a C# program is compiled, the int type is the same thing as the Int32 type. So int is a form of syntactic sugar (which makes the program easier to read).

Type details

We show the Int16, Int32, and Int64 types are equivalent to more commonly used types. These represent numbers with 2, 4 or 8 bytes.

Int16 -> short
Int32 -> int  
Int64 -> long

An example

We declare Int16, Int32 and Int64 variables. We print the Type object corresponding to them. Then we do the same thing for the short, int and long types.

Next The program's output shows that Int16 is equal to short, Int32 is equal to int, and Int64 is equal to long in the runtime.

using System;

{
    Int16 a = 1;
    Int32 b = 1;
    Int64 c = 1;

    Console.WriteLine(a.GetType());
    Console.WriteLine(b.GetType());
    Console.WriteLine(c.GetType());
}
{
    short a = 1;
    int b = 1;
    long c = 1;

    Console.WriteLine(a.GetType());
    Console.WriteLine(b.GetType());
    Console.WriteLine(c.GetType());
}System.Int16
System.Int32
System.Int64
System.Int16
System.Int32
System.Int64

Discussion

Should you prefer Int16 to short, Int32 to int, or Int64 to long? In programs where the number of bytes is important, you might prefer Int16, Int32 or Int64.

Tip In methods where you use int variables, it is a poor choice to use Int32 variables instead, as int is standard.

Detail For the most readable programs, the int type is usually preferred over the Int32 types.

A summary