title: C++ : why bool is 8 bits long?
body: <p>In C++, I'm wondering why the bool type is 8 bits long (on my system), where only one bit is enough to hold the boolean value ?</p>
  
  <p>I used to believe it was for performance reasons, but then on a 32 bits or 64 bits machine, where registers are 32 or 64 bits wide, what's the performance advantage ?</p>
  
  <p>Or is it just one of these 'historical' reasons ?</p>