Warp wrote:
>   I suppose that if there exists a system with bytes smaller than 8 bits,
> a C compiler for that system would slightly break the standard by necessity

Nah. You just wouldn't be able to address the smaller units. If you has 
6-bit memory units, you'd have pointers to characters that increment by two 
machine addresses on each ++, and you'd have 12 bits per char.

Altho, in truth, I expect they'd just break compatibility, rather than 
actually follow the standard yet generate surprising machine code.

The real killer for such a system is the number of people who *do* assume 
8-bit bytes. What happens when you have 10-bit characters and you call
   write(14, "Zoop", 4)
and handle 14 is a TCP socket?

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Insanity is a small city on the western
   border of the State of Mind.

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