title: Bitwise shift operators. Signed and unsigned
body: <p>I'm practising for the SCJP exam using cram notes from the Internet. </p>
  
  <p>According to my notes the <code>&gt;&gt;</code> operator is supposed to be signed right shift, with the sign bit being brought in from the left. While the left shift operator <code>&lt;&lt;</code> is supposed to preserve the sign bit.</p>
  
  <p>Playing around however, I'm able to shift the sign with the <code>&lt;&lt;</code> operator (f.e. <code>Integer.MAX_VALUE &lt;&lt; 1</code> evaluates to <code>-2</code>, while I'm never able to shift the sign with the <code>&gt;&gt;</code> operator.</p>
  
  <p>I must be misunderstanding something here, but what?</p>