[Python-3000] sizeof(size_t) < sizeof(long)

[David Cournapeau]

Greg Ewing wrote:
>
> If a word is needed for this concept, then invent a new
> one, e.g. "size unit", rather than reusing "byte", which
> everyone already understands as meaning 8 bits.
>   

Maybe everyone understands it as 8 bits, but it has always been wrong. 
Byte is a unit of storage, which often contains 8 bits, but not always. 
This definition of a byte as a unit of storage certainly precludes the 
convention that one byte = 8 bits; even if it always contained 8 bits, 
it would still be wrong to say that one byte is 8 bits BTW: the byte 
notion (unit of storage), and its actual size are totally different 
concepts.

>
> No, "char" and "unsigned char" can still be different types.
> You just need to say that sizeof(char) == sizeof(unsigned char) == 1,
> and leave bytes out of the discussion altogether.
>   

I was merely answering to the question "why not using char in the first 
place": because they are totally difference concepts. If you assume char 
and byte are the same thing because sizeof(char) == 1 byte, then you 
should assume that unsigned char is the same as a byte, and thus that 
unsigned char and char are the same. This was a proof by contradiction :)

cheers,

David