[llvm-dev] RFC: On removing magic numbers assuming 8-bit bytes

[via llvm-dev]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: llvm-dev [mailto:llvm-dev-bounces at lists.llvm.org] On Behalf Of JF
> Bastien via llvm-dev
> 
> I’m not a fan of C and C++ supporting anything but 8 bits per byte.
> Realistically, C and C++ on such targets are different languages from 8-
> bit-per-byte C and C++, and therefore code isn’t portable from one to the
> other.

Having done it, I promise you that it's reasonable to write portable C
targeting both 7-bit and 8-bit 'char'.  It was too long ago to remember
anything in detail, but the brain cells still remaining from that era
believe it was pretty clean.

> I intend to propose that C++23 support only 8 bits per byte, ditto
> C. I’m therefore not a fan of teaching clang about this.

My impression is that non-8-bit-byte machines are (these days) generally 
small and likely for embedded or other special purposes, so a proposal 
to stop trying to squeeze the bloated monster that C++ has become onto 
those is probably fine. C, on the other hand, appears to be the language
of choice for all sorts of weird things, and that's less likely to fly.
(Just sayin'. I'm not on either committee and have no vested interest.)
--paulr