That's quite a controversial statement. Using unsigned ints may just clutter cod...

nanex · on Nov 29, 2012

Using "unsigned ints" for values that will never be negative allows you to perform one validation test instead of two. Use a typedef to avoid writing "unsigned" everywhere and you end up with less clutter in the code (for humans) and in the binary (for machines).

nanex

ajuc · on Nov 29, 2012

You should check before the operation that can produce result outside the valid range anyway.

Wrong example:

    unsigned int z = x - y;
    if (z > BIG_NUMBER) {
        return false;
    }

Good example:

    if (y > x) {
        return false;
    }
    unsigned int z = x - y;

raverbashing · on Nov 29, 2012

The issue is

4e9 is invalid but in the middle of the way (more often than not) this may be interpreted as a negative number.

Hence you need to check for value 'bigger than allowed' and 'smaller than allowed'

For unsigned ints, there is a natural smallest value allowed: zero.

You're free to not follow my advice though.

And the google style guide is subtle, it's not what you're implying. You can't use 'short' for example unless explicitly.