Pic n Mix. PIC10f202 Smart Switch – Sleep and WDT; char.

Hi.  Regarding the Smart Switch project in  PE July 2019 -
1. Am I right in thinking "OPTION = 0x1F" selects the WDT and pre-scaler to its longest setting?  As the WDT isn't used is this something to do with efficiency when the device is 'sleeping'?
2. "char" is used for the variable pinStatus and not, as one might assume and 'unsigned int'.  Is this to save on memory space allocation or for another reason?
Thanks in advance.

Hi Simon,
I think those are just default values, certainly they do not have an impact on current consumption as the watchdog timer as a whole is powered down when not in use.
Regarding the use of char (hopefully unsigned char, although in the context of its use thats ok) it was to save on both code and data space. The processor is an 8 bit processor, so it can handle 8 bit variables directly. An unsigned int would be 16 bits, which the processor would have to make a function call to a maths library when dealing with any mathematical operations. 
Hope that helps,
regards,
Mike.

Hi Mike,
That is excellent! Thank you so much. I am hoping to learn much from this particular Pic n Mix series. Keep up the great work.Kind regards.
Simon