Message-ID:	<B0002570635@hermes.cnx.net>
From:	"Jonathan & Shandra Wiebe" <jbwiebe AT cnx DOT net>
To:	XXguille AT XXiies DOT XXes (Guillermo Rodriguez Garcia), djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Date:	Thu, 13 May 1999 19:45:16 -0800
MIME-Version:	1.0
Subject:	Re: Portability and size_t type related question
In-reply-to:	<373db8ea.1455063@noticias.iies.es>
X-Editor:	Vim 5.3
X-mailer:	Pegasus Mail for Windows (v3.01b)
X-MIME-Autoconverted:	from Quoted-printable to 8bit by delorie.com id WAA00936
Reply-To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
X-Mailing-List:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
X-Unsubscribes-To:	listserv AT delorie DOT com

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----


Verily, on 13 May 99,
 A scroll of the prophet Guillermo Rodriguez Garcia arrived, 
 Saying:

> El día Thu, 13 May 1999 11:12:26 GMT, XXguille AT XXiies DOT XXes (Guillermo
> Rodriguez Garcia) escribió:
> 
> 
> >>> Like 'char' is always 1 byte.
> >>
> 
> Quoting from "Rationale for American National Standard for
> Information Systems - Programming Language - C" (the ANSI C
> rationale is a document which explain and tries to clarify the
> standard itself):
> 
> "All objects in C must be representable as a contiguous sequence of
> bytes, each of which is at least 8 bits wide.
> 
> A char (or signed char or unsigned char) occupies exactly one byte.
> 
> (Thus, for instance, on a machine with 36-bit 'words', a 'byte' can
> be defined to consist of 9, 12, 18 or 36 bits, these numbers being
> all the exact divisors of 36 which are not less than 8.) These
> strictures codify the widespread presumption that any object can be
> treated as an array of characters, the size of which is given by the
> sizeof operator with that object's type as it operand."
> 
> 
> What I said above is also true: a byte can be any width, depending
> on the system; but for a conforming C implementation, the host
> machine must have at least 8 bits per byte.
> 
To back this up, (quoting from _The Dictionary of Standard C_ by Rex
Jaeschke):

char:  An integer type keyword.  A char is big enough to hold any
character in the target system's character set.  Standard C requires
it to be at least eight bits.  char expressions traditionally were
widened to int when used in expressions and as arguments to functions.
However, Standard C allows them to be used without widening.

And also,

char, plain:  The type char used without either of the modifiers
signed or unsigned.  It is implementation-defined as to whether a
plain char is signed or unsigned.

Regards,

Jonathan B. Wiebe

- --
Most people use statistics the way a drunkard uses a lamp post, more
for support than illumination. 

Mark Twain

- --
Jonathan B. Wiebe       <jbwiebe AT cnx DOT net>       <><
Kelowna, BC             Cogitor, judicor: ergo sum.

PGP Key [RSA] 1024/400956F5
Key fingerprint: CA 05 F4 5D 89 3F 1F ED  C0 5E 7B 18 79 59 7C 90
- --
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.3ia
Charset: cp850

iQCVAgUBNzt+An9nZYVACVb1AQGUGAQAxu5a96g/h/WYMTPcdFl2exvKJeD0EOHM
/GeDmOC7rKYsnsjmlfhwTMoN1aGMsaj/nJiiqg9roxAG7Y7Kl9up2nVXLL36MPC7
BerVJwVyrLNs664Kjy5pAz84+R8TT9oreYrzOrdVgmwex0/f09vEVqWUu1biZh97
yVTzLbdwslA=
=fsaq
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

- Raw text -