Why is a char and a bool the same size in c++?

Question

I\'m reading The C++ Programming Language. In it Stroustrup states that sizeof(char) == 1 and 1 <= sizeof(bool). The specifics depend

Answer 1

There is this thing in C++ called vector that attempts to exploit the fact that you can theoretically store 8 bools in one char, but it's widely regarded as a mistake by the C++ standards committee. The book "effective stl" actually says "don't use it". That should give you an idea of how tricky it is.

BTW: Knuth has a book just dedicated to bitwise operations. Boost also has a library dedicated to handling large numbers of bits in a more memory efficient way.