decimal constant so large?

[a.biardi@tiscali.it]

Hi everybody,

Can anyone tell me why the constant -2147483648, according to what g++ reports 
as a warning for the code below, is considered to be "so large that it is 
unsigned"?

How can it be unsigned when it starts with '-'?

I am compiling on an x86, and the constant seems to be a perfectly good 32 bit 
signed value to me. Where am I wrong?

I've tried it with three different compilers, and they all behave in the same 
funny way: Borland C++ compiler 5.7, as well as g++ 3.2.3 report a warning, 
Intel compiler 8.1 says nothing.

==============================================================================
#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main() {

  cout << (int)-2147483648 << endl; // ok
  cout <<      -2147483648 << endl; // prints 2147483648 instead

}
==============================================================================