Definition of int64_t

int64_t is typedef you can find that in <stdint.h> in C

a) Can you explain to me the difference between int64_t and long (long int)? In my understanding, both are 64 bit integers. Is there any reason to choose one over the other?

The former is a signed integer type with exactly 64 bits. The latter is a signed integer type with at least 32 bits.

b) I tried to look up the definition of int64_t on the web, without much success. Is there an authoritative source I need to consult for such questions?

http://cppreference.com covers this here: http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/types/integer. The authoritative source, however, is the C++ standard (this particular bit can be found in §18.4 Integer types [cstdint]).

c) For code using int64_t to compile, I am including <iostream>, which doesn't make much sense to me. Are there other includes that provide a declaration of int64_t?

It is declared in <cstdint> or <cinttypes> (under namespace std), or in <stdint.h> or <inttypes.h> (in the global namespace).

An int64_t should be 64 bits wide on any platform (hence the name), whereas a long can have different lengths on different platforms. In particular, sizeof(long) is often 4, ie. 32 bits.

int64_t is guaranteed by the C99 standard to be exactly 64 bits wide on platforms that implement it, there's no such guarantee for a long which is at least 32 bits so it could be more.

§7.18.1.3 Exact-width integer types 1 The typedef name intN_t designates a signed integer type with width N , no padding bits, and a two’s complement representation. Thus, int8_t denotes a signed integer type with a width of exactly 8 bits.