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Yes, yes. The spec is filled with anachronisms that are no longer pertinent in today's machines. char + char gets promoted to int every time in today's compilers. Try it out here: https://godbolt.org/z/V5HEvV

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There is what the standard says, and there is what people actually do. If everyone promotes char to int in practice, then any machine where this doesn't happen is going to have a tough time running the bulk of code out there.

In a standards committee, the standard is the standard, in practice common practice is the standard.

50-50 anachronisms vs flexibility to allow C to run on novel machines that we don't currently envision. Sure, it would be nice for developers on today's machines to reduce it to the conventional subset.

If by novel you also imply compatible, then sure. The moment you create a machine that's incompatible with the conventions adopted by the most popular compilers and architectures, you break a ton of software built upon those conventions, and sink your hardware in the market because it's a portability nightmare.

Specs don't matter beyond the conventions they inspire.

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