> I always understood the native types to be the "probably most efficient" choice, for when you don't actually care about the width. This itself is a platform-

> I always understood the native types to be the "probably most efficient" choice, for when you don't actually care about the width. This itself is a platform-specific property, and is thus non-portable (not in the sense that your code won't run, but in the sense that it might be worse for performance than just using a known small integer when you can).