Meaning of this declaration?

From: Anand Hariharan (mailto.anand.hariharan_at_gmail.com)
Date: 12/20/04 

Date: 20 Dec 2004 14:36:43 -0800

I was reading Coplien's C++ Styles & Idioms, and I came across a
declaration like so -

int var_name : 3;

Unfortunately, the text wasn't going into details of the code, rather,
how C and C++ code differ (and this declaration wasn't one of them).

Not having seen something like this before, I took a moment to review
the standard, and sure enough 9.6 [class.bit] defined this completely.
However, it was all explained in typical legalese, and quite didn't
explain the whys or what-fors.

All insights appreciated,
- Anand

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