Re: VMS

On Fri, 27 Jun 2025 17:40:02 +0000, rbowman wrote:

On Fri, 27 Jun 2025 13:24:06 -0400, c186282 wrote:
 

  Some of us are old enough to remember when CPUs were
   not always 4/8/16/32/64 ... plus even now they've added a lot of new
   types like 128-bit ints. Simply ASSUMING an int is 16 bits is
   'usually safe' but not necessarily 'best practice' and limits future
   (or past) compatibility. 'C' lets you fly free ...
   but that CAN be straight into a window pane

 
Assuming an int is 16 bits is not a good idea. I wouldn't even assume a
short is 16 bits

It would depend on the programming language you use, it's conformance to
standards, and which standard it conforms to.

The ISO C standards, for instance, dictate that
- a char is at least 8 bits wide,
- an unsigned short int must be able to, at least, express values
  between 0 and 65535, and
- an unsigned int must be able to, at least, express values between 0 and
  65535

These last two imply that both unsigned short int and int are at least
16 bits wide. At least, according to the standard.

Now, you /can/ have a C compiler that DOES NOT comply, PARTIALLY complies,
or complies (WHEN REQUESTED) to the ISO C standard; for those compilers,
"you pay your money, and you take your chances"

HTH
--
Lew Pitcher
"In Skills We Trust"