I think that although the commented above used `as`, he meant it as pseudocode and not C#, especially since C# is rarely used for low-level or perfomance-critical stuff where you would use int8 instead of int16 for optimization (in my experience).
I was just using C# as an example of an alternative way of handling calculations.
The comment about assembly comes from remembering a conversation with an older firmware guy. In his world multiplying two 32 numbers resulted in a 64 bit result. And division was 64 bits divided by 32 bits with a 64 bit result, 32 bit result plus a 32 bit remainder.
I think his thoughts on C's 32 bit number X 32 number => 32 bit result can be summed up in a single word: gah!
