Not so - I don't think - because so many types in the C standard library are value types. Say you have an array of struct stat (the first thing that springs to

Not so - I don't think - because so many types in the C standard library are value types. Say you have an array of struct stat (the first thing that springs to mind) - now your program depends on the size of that structure. When its size changes, your code will stop working. The standard doesn't guarantee the size of things, only what members they need to have.