# Data Type Choices Pedantic Choices (As Per Standard) ---------------------------------- - For 16-bit integer, choose `short`. - For 32-bit integer, choose `long`. - For 64-bit integer, choose `long long`. The problem with the pendantic choice is that for most problems, we would end up using long. While long is guaranteed to be at least 32 bits long, but on Unix or Linux systems with LP64 data model, long is 64 bits long. So the pedantic choice will lead to overconsumption of memory in most cases. Practical Choices (As Per Popular Data Models) ---------------------------------------------- - For 16-bit integer, choose short. - For 32-bit integer, choose int. - For 64-bit integer, choose long long.