64 bit architectures and C/C++

[Buster Irby]

turk at Apple.COM (Ken "Turk" Turkowski) writes:

>It is necessary to have 8, 16, and 32-bit data types, in order to be able
>to read data from files.  I would suggest NOT specifying a size for the int
>data type; this is supposed to be the most efficient integral data type
>for a particular machine and compiler.

You assume a lot about the data in the file.  Is it stored in a specific
processor format (ala Intel vs Motorolla)?  My experience has been that
binary data is not portable anyway.