title: What is max length for an C/C++ identifier on common (build) systems?
body: <p>I don't remember the standard saying something of the max length for identifiers so in theory they can be <em>long</em>. In real life, those names could be limited by at least the compiler and linker implementations.</p>
  
  <p>While this should work on all systems</p>
  
  <pre><code>int a;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>this snippet </p>
  
  <pre><code>#!/usr/bin/perl
  print "int" . "b" x 2**16 . ";";
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>creates a declarationen that gives undefined reference to <code>std::</code>somethings with <code>ld</code> while compiling/linking (using gcc/mingw).</p>
  
  <p>So what are the size limits for an identifier on different systems?</p>