1/5 = 0 and 1f / 5f = 0.2 (Even when both stored in a float)

I figured out my problem now, but I thought I'd post anyways because I spent too much time on it.

Code (CSharp):

1.     float f;
2.  
3.     f = 1 / 60;
4.     Debug.Log(f);    //Gives: 0
5.  
6.     f = 1f / 60f;
7.     Debug.Log(f);    //Gives: 0.01666667

It's like it's being cast to int, but everything is still fine even with the different types.

This explains some things:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/programming-guide/types/casting-and-type-conversions

But it's still weird. It says:

Implicit conversions: No special syntax is required because the conversion is type safe and no data will be lost.

Explicit conversions (casts): Explicit conversions require a cast operator. Casting is required when information might be lost in the conversion, or [...]​

But what I was doing was causing me to lose data, and there was no warning or error about it. I guess the lesson is to just be careful and mindful about what types your constants are.

(To be clear, I see now they were int to begin with, and casting to float to save it was considered lossless. The loss was when dividing int / int. Each part on its own makes sense, but all together the result is silently lost data.)

 

Yeah, its just a C# thing, and well, probably most languages really...

If you write 1.0f instead of 1 it'll always work. It'll also always do float division if you hand it float variables (whether they equal a whole number or not), so you just have to keep that in mind when doing complex math on floats or integers.

To C# when you say "1" your saying "the integer 1", and when you say "1.0f" or "1f" your saying to the compiler "the floating point value of 1" - otherwise it has to make assumptions about what you mean.

 

This is why it is important to use a numeric literal suffix in your code. If you don't then numbers with a decimal point will default to "double" and without will default to "int". This can result in unintended implicit conversions that at best make your code run ever so slightly slower, or at worst you get errors saying you need an explicit conversion or get unintended lost data or unexpected results.

1f: float
1d: double
1u: uint
1l: long
1ul: ulong
1m: decimal