title: Will a `char` always-always-always have 8 bits?
body: <p>I've always assumed:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>that a <code>char</code> is represented by a byte,</li>
  <li>that a byte can always be counted upon to have 8 bits, </li>
  <li>that <code>sizeof (char)</code> is always <code>1</code>, </li>
  <li>and that the maximum theoretical amount of memory I can allocate (counted in <code>char</code>s) is the number of bytes of RAM (+ swap space).</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>But now that I've read the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte" rel="noreferrer">Wikipedia entry on the byte</a> I'm not so sure anymore.</p>
  
  <p>Which one(s) of my assumptions is wrong? Which one(s) is dangerous?</p>