To address the uncertainty of the default types provided by C and C++, both provide the standard integer types, which are accessible from the stdint.h header file. This header defines the following types:
- int8_t, uint8_t
- int16_t, uint16_t
- int32_t, uint32_t
- int64_t, uint64_t
In addition, stdint.h provides both least and fast versions of the aforementioned types, and a max type and integer pointer type, which is all out-of-scope for this book. The previous types do exactly what you would expect; they define the width of integer types with a specific number of bits. For example, an int8_t is a signed 8 bit integer. No matter what the CPU architecture, operating system, or mode is, these types are always the same (with the only thing not being defined is their endianness, which is usually only needed when working with networking and external devices...
