C bitfields guarantees

[Daniel N]

On Wednesday, 10 July 2024 at 07:09:10 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:
> I had written a detailed reply, but realized you and I were 
> simply running around in the same circle saying the same things.

Maybe some input from 3rd party could help?

I use bitfields daily and never had any issues. What I do is to 
always use fix size types and then simply take all freedom away 
from the compiler.

uint32_t a;
uint32_t  :32; // Forced padding
uint64_t b:10;
uint64_t c:10;
uint64_t  :44; // Forced padding
uint32_t d;

I guess one can use 0 size bitfields also but I usually prefer to 
visualize how much padding remains for potential future use.