"offset or count might be near -1>>>1." What does it mean
<p>In java String <a href="http://grepcode.com/file/repository.grepcode.com/java/root/jdk/openjdk/6-b14/java/lang/String.java#String.%3Cinit%3E%28char%5B%5D,int,int%29">source code</a>, there are few places noted with the following comment:</p>

<pre><code>// Note: offset or count might be near -1&gt;&gt;&gt;1.
</code></pre>

<p>Consider the following example:</p>

<pre><code>public String(char value[], int offset, int count) {
    if (offset &lt; 0) {
        throw new StringIndexOutOfBoundsException(offset);
    }
    if (count &lt; 0) {
        throw new StringIndexOutOfBoundsException(count);
    }
    // Note: offset or count might be near -1&gt;&gt;&gt;1.
    if (offset &gt; value.length - count) {
        throw new StringIndexOutOfBoundsException(offset + count);
    }
    this.offset = 0;
    this.count = count;
    this.value = Arrays.copyOfRange(value, offset, offset+count);
}
</code></pre>

<p>As we can see, <code>offset</code>, <code>value.length</code> and <code>count</code> are all <code>int</code>, thus the value might be either -1, 0, 1, or any other integers. What does the "near" and ">>>" in the comment means, am I missing something here?</p>
