title: What does it mean for a char to be signed?
body: <p>Given that signed and unsigned ints use the same registers, etc., and just interpret bit patterns differently, and C chars are basically just 8-bit ints, what's the difference between signed and unsigned chars in C?  I understand that the signedness of char is implementation defined, and I simply can't understand how it could ever make a difference, at least when char is used to hold strings instead of to do math.</p>