Path: csiph.com!x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net!newsfeed.hal-mli.net!feeder1.hal-mli.net!border3.nntp.dca.giganews.com!Xl.tags.giganews.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!local2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.earthlink.com!news.earthlink.com.POSTED!not-for-mail
NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2011 17:35:46 -0500
Message-ID: <4E73CF44.619F@mindspring.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2011 18:35:48 -0400
From: pete <pfiland@mindspring.com>
Reply-To: pfiland@mindspring.com
Organization: PF
X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.04Gold (WinNT; I)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: datatype for bit flags
References: <j4s877$2a0$1@dont-email.me> <87k4994fkd.fsf@bazspaz.fatphil.org> <930e767b-26f0-4123-836d-64dac1f47cfb@d2g2000vbk.googlegroups.com> <EtPcq.16451$9w.7154@newsfe18.iad>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Lines: 26
X-Usenet-Provider: http://www.giganews.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: 4.156.228.129
X-Trace: sv3-IIAbSGgDyt32TBTBWmeHbWV8upaSqRB3lDnwQeSFYypzDP4CjT2PEtyf1u7lFHpMkGUZlOXAOzyIZrV!1lbsrY+SrzrAE+uYdhrBGZCsKHtl438z2KSTMK73s86gNOfyqhaN76Ihp5BjAsGoiAuyJqz2gF05!TPG3Ukg9W8s=
X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers
X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly
X-Postfilter: 1.3.40
X-Original-Bytes: 1949
Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.lang.c:10359 comp.lang.c++:10207

Tony wrote:
> 
> Malcolm McLean wrote:
> 
> > You should use int for an
> > integer unless there is a
> > clear reason for using another type. Though
> > each instance will only save a few cycles, if you systematically use
> > int the speed increment may be worth having.
> 
> Did you mean that just in the context of the OP/this thread, or in
> general?

I only use data types which are smaller than int,
when there is a special reason.

It's possible that small types may be aligned on int boundaries, 
meaning that there may be unusable bytes in between them.

It's also possible that there may be masking operations
invloved with simple arithmetic operations on small types.
Small types tend to get converted to type int 
in various operations.

-- 
pete