As well as the missing cast, you are using x before it is defined there.

As an obscurity, you can write:

    byte x = 3;
        x += 1000;

Tom Hawtin

On Mon, 16 Jan 2006 11:17:51 -0000, "Chris Uppal"
<chris.uppal@metagnostic.REMOVE-THIS.org> wrote, quoted or indirectly
quoted someone who said :

consider this SSCCE::

package com.mindprod.example;

/**
* Test unsigned byte calculation
*
* @author Roedy Green
*/
public class TestUnsignedByte
{
/**
* Test unsigned byte calculation
*
* @param args
*        not used
*/
public static void main ( String[] args )
  {
  // 0xca is a negative number considered as a signed byte.
  byte b = (byte)0xca;

  // false, b sign extends, 0xca does not
  System.out.println( b == 0xca );  
 
  // true, b sign extends, 0xca sign extends
  System.out.println( b == (byte) 0xca );

  // true, b chopped, 0xca does not sign extend
  System.out.println( (b & 0xff)  == 0xca );

  // false, b chopped, 0xca sign extends.
  System.out.println( (b & 0xff)  == (byte) 0xca );
  }
}

What prints?  scroll down after you have decided what it should be:
For more detail see http://mindprod.com/jgloss/unsigned.html
It explains why you get he various answers you do.

false
true
true
false