Why use int instead of byte for pin numbers?

stoopkid:
Why do we use:

int led = 13;

instead of

byte led = 13;

If you would never need to define more than 256 pins, why use the extra space for int? Is there a reason?

Thanks.

A "byte" type is the same as "uint8_t" (uses one byte of memory). An "int" is an unsigned 16 bit variable (uses two bytes of memory).

For constants like "led = 13", why not just use

#define led 13

?