Re:The x86 architecture is the weirdo, part 2
by brucehoult on Friday April 22, 2022 @11:26PM
(#31131088)
There is no requirement in C for char to be 8 bits. Even in modern C it's allowed to be bigger than that. For sure it is a bit limiting that in C everything else has to be a multiple (possibly x1) of the size of char. Other languages don't have that restriction.
Algol68 allowed char to be as small as 6 bits, the size on the ICL 1900 it was first developed on (with a 24 bit word size).
Pascal was first implemented on the CDC 6600, with 60 bit words and characters again 6 bits. The first other machine Pascal was ported to was, again, the ICL 1900.
Algol68 allowed char to be as small as 6 bits, the size on the ICL 1900 it was first developed on (with a 24 bit word size).
Pascal was first implemented on the CDC 6600, with 60 bit words and characters again 6 bits. The first other machine Pascal was ported to was, again, the ICL 1900.