title: struct padding network compatibility c++
body: <p>I have been researching into game networking and am confused by the issue of struct padding. I understand that different compilers add padding to structs where they see fit, and this may mean more bytes are sent in a networking stream than desired.</p>
  
  <p>However, surely this will not affect the program. Once the compiler has build the .exe that struct format will be set, and so there should be no issues with translating a received packet as the format will be the same?</p>