From: birotanker@this.is.invalid   
      
   Hello,   
      
     I have a question about the types in stdint.h.  Are these types   
   guaranteed to be typedefs of one of the 'normal' integer types (e.g.   
   short, int, long)? Or could a compiler do the following?   
      
   typedef __compiler_magic_type int32_t;   
      
     I am wondering because - I think - in modern C++ the character types   
   wchar_t, char16_t, and char32_t are distinct types rather than typedefs   
   of short or int?  This doesn't seem to be necessarily the case for   
   int32_t and friends.   
      
     This question affects function overloading, as I would like to make a   
   set of functions overloaded on every possible integer type.  If the   
   types in stdint.h are guaranteed to correspond to 'normal' types then   
   it's sufficient to use only those types.  Otherwise I potentially   
   (depending on the platform) also need overloads for some or all of the   
   stdint.h types.   
      
     Also strict aliasing gives rise to a similar problem - to access all   
   different integer types in a generic way I need code paths for each   
   different type, to ensure that I am accessing each through a pointer   
   of the same type.  That means an extra code path for each stdint.h   
   type which has its own __compiler_magic_type.  (Leaving aside for the   
   moment the problem of working out which 'normal' integer type to use   
   for each stdint.h type.)   
      
     Answers very much appreciated,   
      
   Edmund Kapusniak   
      
      
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