What is the bit size of long on 64-bit Windows?

Question

Not to long ago, someone told me that long are not 64 bits on 64 bit machines and I should always use int. This did not make sense to me. I have se

Answer 1

It is not clear if the question is about the Microsoft C++ compiler or the Windows API. However, there is no [c++] tag so I assume it is about the Windows API. Some of the answers have suffered from link rot so I am providing yet another link that can rot.

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For information about Windows API types like INT, LONG etc. there is a page on MSDN:

Windows Data Types

The information is also available in various Windows header files like WinDef.h. I have listed a few relevant types here:

Type                        | S/U | x86    | x64
----------------------------+-----+--------+-------
BYTE, BOOLEAN               | U   | 8 bit  | 8 bit
----------------------------+-----+--------+-------
SHORT                       | S   | 16 bit | 16 bit
USHORT, WORD                | U   | 16 bit | 16 bit
----------------------------+-----+--------+-------
INT, LONG                   | S   | 32 bit | 32 bit
UINT, ULONG, DWORD          | U   | 32 bit | 32 bit
----------------------------+-----+--------+-------
INT_PTR, LONG_PTR, LPARAM   | S   | 32 bit | 64 bit
UINT_PTR, ULONG_PTR, WPARAM | U   | 32 bit | 64 bit
----------------------------+-----+--------+-------
LONGLONG                    | S   | 64 bit | 64 bit
ULONGLONG, QWORD            | U   | 64 bit | 64 bit

The column "S/U" denotes signed/unsigned.