Why int take less space in memory than bool?

[PixelTim]

As far as I know, both bool and int are extending Variant type, and variant type is 20 bytes (160 bits). But int takes only 64 bits (8 bytes) despite being a Variant. If it is possible to change size of Variant, then why bool is stored in 160 bits (like common Variant), but not in 1 bit or 1 byte at least.
Side question: is it better to use ints instead of bools (ints take less memory space)?

[bruvzg]

It's not. Variant is either 24 bytes or 40 bytes if build with precision=double. It will take the same amount of memory for both int and bool.

[sockeye-d]

It should be since arrays have additional overhead and for a 64 bit bitfield an array would take up at least 24 bytes*64=1.5kb, whereas an int will only occupy those 20 bytes of a Variant. Bit manipulation operators are also very fast and might even outperform array gets and sets.

[bruvzg]

Array[bool] is still array of Variants so it's defiantly will have a lot more overhead than single int.

[bruvzg]

Or if you need a lot (or dynamic number) of values, you can use PackedByteArray, which will take 1 byte per element + single 24 bytes for variant (storing pointer to array).

[PixelTim]

@sockeye-d @bruvzg thanks for your replies. @bruvzg thanks for tip!

[AThousandShips]

See #7529 for a proposal for helping with accessing individual bits