Thread: help! size_t, unigned int and puts()

Originally Posted by whiteflags

size_t is required to be able to represent, in bytes, the size of an object of any type that can be examined by the sizeof() operator. So if you needed to represent say the length of a string, it is a rather logical choice, given that there are environmental, minimal limits on the size of an array (and other things) in standard C. The minimum limit of the size of an object, that means that the compiler must translate source containing an object of this size, is 2^16, in C99.

unsigned int is just an unsigned integer (read positive values only) type that can support different ranges on different platforms. It is a general purpose integer type.



I don't think you're wrong, that just doesn't matter. You're pointing out an implementation detail.

According to WG14/N1256 Committee Draft — Septermber 7, 2007 ISO/IEC 9899:TC3

The return value of sizeof is "implementation-defined" and is said to be an unsigned value. And it says that size_t IS defined in stddef.h and/or other headers...

4 The value of the result is implementation-defined, and its type (an unsigned integer type)
is size_t, defined in <stddef.h> (and other headers).

You can read the full text at the following address...

http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/WG...docs/n1256.pdf

**EDIT**

Sorry... had to fully understand my own post...