Who decides the size of integer?
Table of Contents
- 1 Who decides the size of integer?
- 2 What does size of an integer depend on?
- 3 What is integer representation?
- 4 What is the size of an integer variable?
- 5 Why sizeof int is 4?
- 6 Why does the size of integer depend on the machine architecture?
- 7 What is the size of a long int?
- 8 Does the number of bits in an application depend on the compiler?
Who decides the size of integer?
So loosely speaking, the size of int is a property of the target hardware and OS (two different OSs on the same hardware may have a different size of int , and the same OS running on two different machines may have a different size of int ; there are reasonably common examples of both).
What does size of an integer depend on?
The size of integer depends on what type of compiler you are using. In visual studio 2008(32 bit), since it uses a 32 bit compiler the size of integer is 32 bits (4 bytes). However if you use turbo C or any 16 bit compiler the size of integer will be 16 bits (2 bytes).
What is the size of an integer?
Integer Types
| Type | Storage size | Value range |
|---|---|---|
| int | 2 or 4 bytes | -32,768 to 32,767 or -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647 |
| unsigned int | 2 or 4 bytes | 0 to 65,535 or 0 to 4,294,967,295 |
| short | 2 bytes | -32,768 to 32,767 |
| unsigned short | 2 bytes | 0 to 65,535 |
Why does integer size vary?
The aim of C and C++ is to supply in no-time code on all machines. If compilers had to make sure that an int may be an uncommon size for that machine, it might require extra instructions.
What is integer representation?
Representing integer numbers refers to how the computer stores or represents a number in memory. The computer represents numbers in binary (1’s and 0’s). This directly impacts the size, or range, of the number that can be represented. For example, a byte (8-bits) can be used to represent 28 or 256 different numbers.
What is the size of an integer variable?
Data Types and Sizes
| Type Name | 32–bit Size | 64–bit Size |
|---|---|---|
| short | 2 bytes | 2 bytes |
| int | 4 bytes | 4 bytes |
| long | 4 bytes | 8 bytes |
| long long | 8 bytes | 8 bytes |
What is the size of integer in 16-bit compiler?
The size of a signed int or unsigned int item is the standard size of an integer on a particular machine. For example, in 16-bit operating systems, the int type is usually 16 bits, or 2 bytes. In 32-bit operating systems, the int type is usually 32 bits, or 4 bytes.
Why are int and long the same size?
These days, on non-Windows platforms that have 64-bit processors, long is indeed 64 bits, where int is 32 bits. But the main point is that there is no GUARANTEE that the type is any particular size for long , other than a minimum of 32 bits. It is then up to the compiler if it’s larger than that or not.
Why sizeof int is 4?
So the reason why you are seeing an int as 4 bytes (32 bits), is because the code is compiled to be executed efficiently by a 32-bit CPU. If the same code were compiled for a 16-bit CPU the int may be 16 bits, and on a 64-bit CPU it may be 64 bits.
Why does the size of integer depend on the machine architecture?
Data Types Size depends on Processor, because compiler wants to make CPU easier accessible the next byte. for eg: if processor is 32bit, compiler may not choose int size as 2 bytes[which it supposed to choose 4 bytes] because accessing another 2 bytes of that int(4bytes) will take additional CPU cycle which is waste.
What is the size of an integer in bytes?
Nowadays, it’s most often 4 bytes on a 32-bit as well as 64-bit systems. Still, using sizeof (int) is the best way to get the size of an integer for the specific system the program is executed on. EDIT: Fixed wrong statement that int is 8 bytes on most 64-bit systems.
What is the size of sizeof(int) in C?
It depends on both processors and compilers including programming model. For example, in 16-bit machines, sizeof (int) was 2 bytes. 32-bit machines have 4 bytes for int.
What is the size of a long int?
It depends on the combination of compiler, processor and OS. For instance, on a 64 bit Intel CPU, in 64 bit mode, the size of a long int in Windows is 4 byte while in Linux and on the Mac it is 8 byte. int is 4 bytes in all three OSes on Intel. The compiler implementer also has a choice, but usually uses what the OS uses.
Does the number of bits in an application depend on the compiler?
The simple and correct answer is that it depends on the compiler. It doesn’t mean architecture is irrelevant but the compiler deals with that, not your application. You could say more accurately it depends on the (target) architecture of the compiler for example if its 32 bits or 64 bits.