Re: sizeof(int) - processor's architecture depandance

From:
James Kanze <kanze.james@neuf.fr>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++.moderated
Date:
23 Jul 2006 08:15:00 -0400
Message-ID:
<e9u2an$1ql$1@nntp.aioe.org>
speedplane wrote:

It is most certainly architecture specific. However having a
16-bit, 32-bit, or 64-bit processor does not really make a
difference. It sizeof(int) may still be 4 on a 16-bit
processor. On most processors (except for some really old
ones) sizeof(int) will be 4.


I'm not sure, but I think it is actually 2 on the most widely
used processor today. There are also a number of modern
processors where it is 1.

Not all the world is a PC.

However if you think that it will be a problem for you, many
people create a header file and define there own types with
fixed sizes.... for example:

typedef unsigned int uint32
typedef signed int int32
typedef signed short int16
...


A better solution might be to ask why it is a problem, and fix
the problem at the source, rather than hacking around it. There
are very, very few operations where you actually need a fixed
size.

There's also a standard header in C (and in the next version of
C++) which will contain all the necessary typedef's. And a way
of testing whether the size is available: not all hardware (even
today) has a 32 bit integral type.

--
James Kanze kanze.james@neuf.fr
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