Why is argc an 'int' (rather than an 'unsigned int')?

Question

Why is the command line arguments count variable (traditionally argc) an int instead of an unsigned int? Is there a technical reason for t

Answer 1

A few reasons:

• because it doesn't matter
• because C did not originally have the unsigned keyword or unsigned integer types
• because C did not originally check parameter types and did not even have prototypes.
  As a result, it was common practice to not even declare int types, as this was the default.
• because int was, in a sense, more important back then. Everything was an int. C evolved in part from a language that did not even have types. Every single varable was a word, which is what int originally was used for.

UPDATE: Jason S asked for sources. I think you can dig all of this (except for "it doesn't matter") out of a paper by dmr which is on line: The Development of the C Language. You may need to look up the earlier languages BCPL and B in the usual places.