Does it really matter to distinct between short, int, long?

Question

In my C# app, I would like to know whether it is really important to use short for smaller numbers, int for bigger etc. Does the memory consumption really matter?

Answer 1

Unless you are packing large numbers of these together in some kind of structure, it will probably not affect the memory consumption at all. The best reason to use a particular integer type is compatibility with an API. Other than that, just make sure the type you pick has enough range to cover the values you need. Beyond that for simple local variables, it doesn't matter much.