Re: sizeof(int)

From: Jack Klein (jackklein_at_spamcop.net)
Date: 02/28/05 

Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2005 22:06:57 -0600

On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 09:53:01 -0500, Ron Natalie <ron@sensor.com> wrote
in comp.lang.c++:

> Shezan Baig wrote:
> > DHOLLINGSWORTH2 wrote:
> >
> >>A char is always 8 bits.
> >
> >
> >
> > Why can't a char be 16 bits?
> >
> It can be, but it is unlikely. Unfortunately one of the
> great defects in C++ is that char has a double role: that
> of the basic character AND that of the smallest addressable
> storage unit. Ideally, bytes and characters should be dissassociated.

Interesting. Just today I was working with an architecture where char
has 16 bits, which is indeed the smallest addressable storage unit.

What possible gain from defining a char as 8 bits when a byte is 16
bits? You can only store one char per byte, unless you use bit fields
or bit-wise operators to merge and separate them.

And there are platforms where char and in fact all the integer types
are 32 bits. Period. 

-- 
Jack Klein
Home: http://JK-Technology.Com
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