C is one of the most powerful programming languages in the World and it’s suitable for a wide variety of uses. Integer variables are one of the important data types that we end up using frequently in our programs. The RAD Studio and C++ Builder IDEs, while primarily intended for creating C++ programs are extremely powerful free C IDEs too for those who want to develop applications of all types. In this post, we have an example that shows what is a short int in C, how to convert an int to a string C, and a C++ example of how to convert an int to a string too.
As C/C++ developers we have a great selection of free C++ IDE and professional C++ IDEs. Tools like C++ Builder CE, Dev-C++, and even the BCC32 command line compiler. C++ Builder’s primary purpose is to be the best available C++ IDE which helps developers be at their most efficient and effective possible selves yet it is also quite capable of editing and compiling most C code thanks to C and C++ having a shared lineage.
Table of Contents
What is Int in C programming?
In C/C++ language, the int data type is a signed integer, means it can be both negative and positive integer numbers (but not ‘real’ numbers such as 1.22, 3.1459 etc) with precision. These are the main data types that we use in C and C++ programming. Generally, we use:
- int for integers
- float or double for floating point numbers
- char for characters
- char arrays for strings
The int data type stored in the bits of bytes in memory, thus it has limits to hold numbers due to the way the computer hardware handles that memory. If you are sure your integer variable is always zero or a positive number, you can use unsigned int for the unsigned integer data types. When we use int. The int term is a Type Keyword, under the Type Specifiers.
In an example, we can simply use the int type specifier to declare an integer x variable and then we can set its value to 10 as below,
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int x; x = 10; |
or we can directly set its value to 10 as below,
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int x = 10; |
Integer variables are an important part of programming. Generally, they are faster than floating point operations and in professional programming it is important to declare integer values in the possible range of its values. That provides you to use different int data types to optimize your codes. This will result, faster and more useful applications. May be there is no meaningful speed for a single operation but if you are using hundreds of millions of these types, every detail about your variable type is important.
The signed and unsigned size of int is same. The range changes as given below,
| Type Specifier | Size | Range |
| int signed int | 4 Bytes | -2,147,483,647 to 2,147,483,647 |
| unsigned unsigned int | 4 Bytes | 0 to 4,294,967,295 |
What is int in an example in C programming?
Here is a very good C example that shows the size of different integer types.
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#include <stdio.h> int main() { int b = 200; signed c = 300; signed int d = 400; unsigned e = 500; unsigned int f = 600; printf("Size of int : %d bytes\n",sizeof(b)); printf("Size of signed : %d bytes \n",sizeof(c)); printf("Size of signed int : %d bytes \n",sizeof(d)); printf("Size of unsigned : %d bytes\n",sizeof(e)); printf("Size of unsigned int : %d bytes\n\n",sizeof(f)); getchar(); return 0; } |
and the output will be as follows,
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Size of int : 4 bytes Size of signed : 4 bytes Size of signed int : 4 bytes Size of unsigned : 4 bytes Size of unsigned int : 4 bytes |
as you see all standard int types has 4 bytes in memory.
What is global or local int in C programming?
When we use int, int term is a Type Keyword, under the Type Specifiers. If you declare int type outside of the main() function or outside of any function it is a global variable that can be used in the main function or in any other functions, inside it is a local variable that can be used only in that function. We can simply use the int type specifier as a global or local variable in C as below,
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#include <stdio.h> int a = 10; // global integer type int b = 20; // global integer type int main() { int c; // local integer type c = a*b; return 0; } |
What is the declaration syntax for the int types in C programming and C++?
The evolution of C and C++ and the underlaying hardware technology; from 8bits to 16bits, 32bits and 64bits operations bring new fundamental type terms. Normally an int data has 4 bytes size in the memory. If your data has lower integer numbers in a range, you can use short term to reduce the memory usage per data and this may help to speed up your calculations too. If you have wider range of numbers in your data, you can use long long term (yes, the word long does appear twice) when you declare an integer or an integer array. The fundamental type specifiers are defined well in the the Fundamental Types
In C and C++ programming there is Declaration Syntax Index that defines most of data type declarations. C has fundamental data types for the characters, integers and floating numbers. The fundamental type specifiers are built from the following keywords:
| char | __int8 | long |
| double | __int16 | signed |
| float | __int32 | short |
| int | __int64 | unsigned |
What are short int, long int and long long int in C programming?
The short int is used to speed up some operations if your integers are between -32,768 to 32767 in signed type or 0 to 65535 as in unsigned type. If a type has the unsigned specifier, its minimum range is 0 and the maximum range doubles its maximum range before. There are many integer types, these can be found in extended Integer Types docwiki section. For a short description, mainly shot int, int, long int and long long int has these sizes in the memory and their ranges are listed as below,
| Type Specifier | Size | Range (Signed) |
| short int | 2 Bytes | -32,768 to 32,767 |
| int | 4 Bytes | -2,147,483,647 to 2,147,483,647 |
| long int | 4 Bytes | -2,147,483,647 to 2,147,483,647 |
| long long int | 8 Bytes | -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 |
What is short int in C programming and how we can use it?
When we use short int, short term is a Specifier Keyword, and the int term is a Type Keyword, both together called as Type Specifiers. We can simply use the short int type specifier as below,
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short int x; |
in brief, we can use short term on its own too. Or if you want to know it is a signed variable you can use the signed short int term too. You can use the unsigned specifier to define it has positive integer number data only. All of them have the same size in the memory, 2 bytes. The signed and unsigned size of short int is same. The range changes as given below,
| Type Specifier | Size | Range |
| short short int signed short int | 2 Bytes | -32,768 to 32,767 |
| unsigned short unsigned short int | 2 Bytes | 0 to 65,535 |
Is there a short int example in C Programming ?
Here is a very good example that shows the size of different integer types.
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#include <stdio.h> int main() { short a = 100; short int b = 200; signed short c = 300; signed short int d = 400; unsigned short e = 300; unsigned short int f = 400; printf("Size of short : %d bytes\n",sizeof(a)); printf("Size of short int : %d bytes\n",sizeof(b)); printf("Size of signed short : %d bytes \n",sizeof(c)); printf("Size of signed short int : %d bytes \n",sizeof(d)); printf("Size of unsigned short : %d bytes\n",sizeof(e)); printf("Size of unsigned short int : %d bytes\n\n",sizeof(f)); short int s = 500; int i = 600; long int l = 600; long long int ll = 600; printf("Size of short int : %d bytes\n",sizeof(s)); printf("Size of int : %d bytes\n",sizeof(i)); printf("Size of long int : %d bytes\n",sizeof(l)); printf("Size of long long int : %d bytes\n",sizeof(ll)); getchar(); return 0; } |
and the output will be as follows,
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Size of short : 2 bytes Size of short int : 2 bytes Size of signed short : 2 bytes Size of signed short int : 2 bytes Size of unsigned short : 2 bytes Size of unsigned short int : 2 bytes Size of short int : 2 bytes Size of int : 4 bytes Size of long int : 4 bytes Size of long long int : 4 bytes |
What is the short type of int in C programming?
In C and C++, we can use Specifier Keywords without using int as a short type of int as given C examples below,
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#include <stdio.h> int main() { unsigned a; signed b; short c; long d; printf( "Size of usigned: %d\n", sizeof(a) ); printf( "Size of signed: %d\n", sizeof(b) ); printf( "Size of short: %d\n", sizeof(c) ); printf( "Size of long: %d\n", sizeof(d) ); getchar(); return 0; } |
As in int, short int examples you can use long int or long long int in examples as given above too. All of these different usages give your application to run faster in runtime, or maybe it is slow but useful in a large data range. Actually, this topic looks very easy, it could be explained with few words, but all the details above are important to get a more complete understanding of why the different int types exist.
In C++ Builder, int, short int, long int, long long int and other integer types are the same as listed above as in CLANG standards.
Although the free C++ Builder Community Edition is extremely powerful it is intended for students, beginners, and startups. If you are a regular business or do not qualify for the free community edition then you can download a free trial of the very latest full RAD Studio C++ Builder version.
C++ Builder is the easiest and fastest C and C++ IDE for building simple or professional applications on the Windows, MacOS, iOS & Android operating systems. It is also easy for beginners to learn with its wide range of samples, tutorials, help files, and LSP support for code. RAD Studio’s C++ Builder version comes with the award-winning VCL framework for high-performance native Windows apps and the powerful FireMonkey (FMX) framework for cross-platform UIs.
There is a free C++ Builder Community Edition for students, beginners, and startups; it can be downloaded from here. For professional developers, there are Professional, Architect, or Enterprise versions of C++ Builder and there is a trial version you can download from here.
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