[prophesi]

For future reference, don't assume everyone on HN writes C/C++. I know what those terms mean but I was trying to point out that OP probably meant the exact same thing.

Telling someone who doesn't know what widening a variable means that they meant widening a variable without explaining what widening a variable means helps no one.

(Plus adding 1 bit to the "bit size" of a variable _does_ double the base 10 size of the variable if you want to be really pedantic)

[anyfoo]

I think it's pretty intuitive that the size of a variable is the amount of memory it takes, while the range of a variable describes the bounds of the values it can represent.

This is consistent with other uses: The size of an array, the size of a data structure in general, the size of a file... In all of those you are concerned about how much memory or disk space is taken.

So I think calling the range "size" is counterintuitive and gives the wrong idea, and I do not agree that the "base 10 size" of a variable is equivalent to its range. (What does "base 10" have to do with it anyway? The range is doubled no matter what base we're operating in.)