title: Serial programming in Arduino, reading decimal numbers with values outside of the values of 0-9
body: <p>I'm currently trying to use my <a href="http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardUno" rel="nofollow">Arduino Uno</a> for controlling stepper motors. The task that's been assigned to me is to create a program that can control the motors, but by prompting the user to input the number of steps of displacement desired. My biggest problem right now is having the serial monitor to read these numbers as one number.</p>
  
  <p>For example, I am able to use the <code>Serial.read()</code> function to read numbers and save them as int data types, but that's only for numbers from 0-9.</p>
  
  <p>If I were to type in "500", the monitor would display:</p>
  
  <pre><code>5
  0
  0
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>As if they are separate numbers...</p>
  
  <p>How can I input large numbers through serial communication and have them as usable int or long data types?</p>