Table 2.5. Some types of numbers in C.

Table 2.5. Some types of numbers in C

		Word size of computer		Range
		16-bit (e.g. 486 PC)	32-bit (e.g. Pentium PC)
Integer types
`char`	1 byte	8 bits	8 bits	-128 to 127 (or 0 to 255, for `unsigned char` )
`int`	word-sized integer	16 bits	32 bits	(as for `short` and `long`, according to word size)
`short` (or `short int`)	fixed size, 2-byte integer	16 bits	16 bits	-32,768 to 32,767 (0 to 65,535, for an `unsigned short`)
`long` (or `long int`)	fixed size, 4-byte integer	32 bits	32 bits	2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647 (±2.2 × 10⁹), or ±4.3 × 10⁹, for an `unsigned long`
Floating point types (decimals)
`float`	single precision	32 bits	32 bits	±1.18 × 10^-38 to ±3.4 × 10³⁸
`double`	double precision (more decimal places)	64 bits	64 bits	±2.23 × 10^-308 to ±1.79 × 10³⁰⁸

To add a further complication, though, when 2 bytes are used to store a short integer, some programs put the lower 8 bits (units, twos, fours etc.) before the higher 8 bits (the “little endian” or “Intel” convention), and some the other way round (the “big endian” or “Motorola” convention). We shall use the “Intel” convention, as a standard.