title: When to use short instead of int?
body: <p>Two use cases for which I would consider <code>short</code> come to mind:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>I want an integer type that's at least 16 bits in size</li>
  <li>I want an integer type that's exactly 16 bits in size</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>In the first case, since <code>int</code> is guaranteed to be at least 16 bits and is the most efficient integral data type, I would use <code>int</code>. In the second case, since the standard doesn't guarantee that <code>short</code>'s size is exactly 16 bit, I would use <code>int16_t</code> instead. So what use is short?</p>