Timeline for When should you use bools in C++?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| S Apr 24, 2012 at 10:58 | history | suggested | Dynamic | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
general fixes
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| Apr 24, 2012 at 10:46 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Apr 24, 2012 at 10:58 | |||||
| Apr 20, 2012 at 20:18 | comment | added | Craige | Also found elsewhere on the web: "The obvious next question is 'how much memory do variables of different data types take?'. The size of a given data type is dependent on the compiler and/or the computer architecture. On most 32-bit machines (as of this writing), a char is 1 byte, a bool is 1 byte, a short is 2 bytes, an int is 4 bytes, a long is 4 bytes, a float is 4 bytes, and a double is 8 bytes." | |
| Apr 20, 2012 at 20:17 | comment | added | Craige | @Apoc - 1 byte, actually. See also: stackoverflow.com/questions/266870/… | |
| Apr 20, 2012 at 19:21 | comment | added | DogDog | I thought booleans in C++ were the same size as ints, 4 bytes. | |
| Apr 20, 2012 at 16:23 | comment | added | Craige | +1. It makes the intent/options clear. You could use any method you like to store the value including a string with the value "yes" or "no", but you should choose the one that makes MOST sense. In this case, that is a boolean. | |
| Apr 20, 2012 at 15:42 | comment | added | Michael Shopsin | Bools prevent abuse of a variable for other uses. An integer can be set to values other than 0 or 1 to create additional states your code may not be aware of. | |
| Apr 20, 2012 at 11:22 | vote | accept | Bugster | ||
| Apr 20, 2012 at 11:06 | comment | added | Scott C Wilson | To restate @AndrewFinnel's point: Bool is more self documenting. A variable you set to 0 or 1 could be a counter; a variable you set to true or false is clearly a flag. | |
| Apr 20, 2012 at 11:02 | comment | added | ChrisF | Agreed. I think design intentions are more important. Only occasionally will you need to override them. | |
| Apr 20, 2012 at 10:39 | history | answered | Andrew T Finnell | CC BY-SA 3.0 |