First rule of thumb: Never listen to friends
In the header limits.h there are a whole bunch of macros designed to help you answer this very question
Heres a snippet of mine
Code:
/* Number of bits in a `char'. */
# define CHAR_BIT 8
/* Minimum and maximum values a `signed char' can hold. */
# define SCHAR_MIN (-128)
# define SCHAR_MAX 127
/* Maximum value an `unsigned char' can hold. (Minimum is 0.) */
# define UCHAR_MAX 255
/* Minimum and maximum values a `char' can hold. */
# ifdef __CHAR_UNSIGNED__
# define CHAR_MIN 0
# define CHAR_MAX UCHAR_MAX
# else
# define CHAR_MIN SCHAR_MIN
# define CHAR_MAX SCHAR_MAX
# endif
/* Minimum and maximum values a `signed short int' can hold. */
# define SHRT_MIN (-32768)
# define SHRT_MAX 32767
/* Maximum value an `unsigned short int' can hold. (Minimum is 0.) */
# define USHRT_MAX 65535
/* Minimum and maximum values a `signed int' can hold. */
# define INT_MIN (-INT_MAX - 1)
# define INT_MAX 2147483647
/* Maximum value an `unsigned int' can hold. (Minimum is 0.) */
# define UINT_MAX 4294967295U
/* Minimum and maximum values a `signed long int' can hold. */
# if __WORDSIZE == 64
# define LONG_MAX 9223372036854775807L
# else
# define LONG_MAX 2147483647L
# endif
# define LONG_MIN (-LONG_MAX - 1L)
The standard also defines the minimum values for each basic data type, but the majority of modern compilers exceed those requirements.