There is no byte type in c. But I found byte type in programming

Elias 0
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I am trying to learn I2C from this website. In the website section "Slave Demo Sketch" (Arduino), there is one line code that I don't understand.

What is type of Byte? What does the byte inside the brackets mean?

for (byte i=0; i<ANSWERSIZE; i++) {
  response[i] = (byte)answer.charAt(i);
}
arduino c++
2 Answers

If this is the demo you are referring to(which seems to be the case since it contains the snippet you posted). What you are describing is an Arduino byte.

A version of the Arduino.h header can be found here where byte is defined as typedef uint8_t byte;.

It is worth noting that Arduino is not C, it is C++(avr-g++).

userLCr80

First of all, type naming is somewhat subjective, though wide consensus exists.

Various sketchy, home-brewed types tend to exist in some libraries. byte, BYTE, U8 and other such non-standard types. These are almost always just some flavour of typedef unsigned char slop;, which is a completely useless typedef.

Some of the cornerstones of good programming practices:

  • follow formal ISO standards or at least industry "de facto" standards and don't invent your personal non-standard
  • don't complicate things just for the heck of it

Weird typedefs like byte go against both of these practices. In addition "I don't like typing" isn't a valid argument - programming is all about typing, those who don't like it or who can't figure out how copy/paste or code completion works picked the wrong trade. Besides, if you can't type uint8_t in around 1 second, it might be an indication that you need to practice typing on a keyboard way more, at least if you are serious about the programmer trade.

The only time when you should be using such non-standard types is when the existing code base is truly hellbent on using them and a lot of code like that has already been written. Using a different, although more correct type might just make the code more confusing at that point.

Good practice is to use the standardized types whenever possible, instead of inventing your own non-standard. Some rules of thumb of below:

Acceptable byte types:

  • uint8_t (highly recommended)
  • unsigned char

Acceptable boolean types:

  • bool with false and true (highly recommended)
  • _Bool with false and true (C only, not C++)
Lundin0
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