Re: "C" compiler where 0 is not of type int?

Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> writes:

This is going to sound like an odd question, because it is.
>
I saw this code fragment in an answer posted on Quora:
>
    // In case literal 0 isn't an int on this platform.
    int z = (int) 0;
>
The writer encountered this in an old C project, and suggested that
the author of the code might have had a legitimate concern.  (He
ended up removing the cast.)
>
Obviously 0 is of type int in every C standard.  If the cast were
necessary, it would be because of a non-conforming compiler.

Or it might be that the compiler was a pre-ANSI-standard compiler,
where a "non-conforming" label has no meaning.

I've heard of non-conforming C compilers that make int 8 bits, or
that don't have long double, or that have a long double type that
doesn't meet the standard's range and/or precision requirements.
>
My question is this:  Has there ever been a (non-conforming) C
compiler that gave a constant 0 a type other than int?

Even if there were a C compiler where 0 has a type other than
int, it seems unlikely that the cast would be necessary.  I
haven't bothered to check, but my recollection is that even
K&R C allowed assignment between different numerical types.
And surely every numerical type includes a representation
for the abstract value 0.