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I've looked and looked for documentation about the compiler but I can't find anything. I'm wondering how many bytes an integer is in the Win32 platform compiler. It's 2 or 4 I know but I need to know exactly. Seems logical that int is 2 and long is 4 because its a 32 bit compiler, but I don't know. Anyone know for sure?
MSDN:
"Integer variables are stored as signed 32-bit (4-byte) integers ranging in value from -2,147,483,648 through 2,147,483,647.
The Integer data type provides optimal performance on a 32-bit processor, as the smaller integral types are slower to load and store from and to memory.
You can convert the Integer data type to Long, Single, Double, or Decimal without encountering a System.OverflowException error.
Caution If you are interfacing with components written in Visual Basic version 6.0, for example Automation or COM objects, keep in mind that Integer has a different data width (16 bits) in Visual Basic 6.0. If you are passing a 16-bit argument to such a component, declare it as Short instead of Integer in Visual Basic .NET.
Appending the literal type character I to a literal forces it to the Integer data type. Appending the identifier type character % to any identifier forces it to Integer.
The equivalent .NET data type is System.Int32."
FYI - The <climits> header contains a bunch of constants, such as INT_MAX, UINT_MAX, ULONG_MAX, etc. These constants represent the maximum value that each type can hold.
You can write a little program to display the values, or to calculate the number of bits / bytes for each type on your particular platform.
You might be able to use the sizeof() macro, but I don't trust it because the C++ standard does NOT define a byte as 8 bits! The standard says something like "A byte is at least big-enough to hold a type char".