[Boost-users] How to find: best integer type for processor

Subject: [Boost-users] How to find: best integer type for processor
From: Daryle Walker (darylew_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-10-30 11:24:09

Is there a macro and/or typedef that will tell me bit-length used for  
a processor and/or the best integer type for said processor?  The  
"int" type is supposed to be that type, and it was in the 16- and 32- 
bit eras.  (I learned C programming with the former in the... early  
1990s!)  However, the powers-that-be decided, for "backwards  
compatibility," to freeze "int" and "long" at 32 bits and use a new  
type, "long long," for 64 bits, which should be the optimized integer  
type for 64-bit processors.  (If they kept to the plan, "int" would  
be 64 bits, "long" either 64 or 128, "short" up to 32, and the new  
type will be "short short" at 16.)  I want to know the best type so,  
when I build multi-integer arrays for various purposes, I don't pick  
an element type that causes a slow down, whether to focus on a  
fraction of a register (if the chosen type is too small) to handle  
two registers at once (if the chosen type is too large).

-- 
Daryle Walker
Mac, Internet, and Video Game Junkie
darylew AT hotmail DOT com