alt Hacker NewsIn Java, unsigned arithmetic is available through an API and, as you said, it is pretty much only needed when marshalling to certain wire protocols or for FFI. Built-in unsigned types are useful primarily for bitfields or similar tiny types with up to 6 bits or so.
I miss them for doing bit juggling like file headers or networking packets.
However I do concede writing a few helper methods isn't that much of a burden.