It always depends on the area of focus. You can also consistently choose the default int type to signed while being fully aware of you lose half range but gain

It always depends on the area of focus. You can also consistently choose the default int type to signed while being fully aware of you lose half range but gain signed integer arithmetic. For me I am mostly doing system and networking so I tends to to unsigned. The key is to choose a consistent default while aware of that you are in a non-intuitive zone when that default type puts you in.