2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
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nybble
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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/nibl/ , nibble , n. [from v. nibble by analogy with bite byte ] Four bits;
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one hex digit; a half-byte. Though byte is now techspeak, this useful
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relative is still jargon. Compare byte ; see also bit. The more mundane
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spelling nibble is also commonly used. Apparently the nybble spelling is
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uncommon in Commonwealth Hackish, as British orthography would suggest the
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pronunciation /ni:bl/. Following bit , byte and nybble there have been quite
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a few analogical attempts to construct unambiguous terms for bit blocks of
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other sizes. All of these are strictly jargon, not techspeak, and not very
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common jargon at that (most hackers would recognize them in context but not
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use them spontaneously). We collect them here for reference together with
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the ambiguous techspeak terms word , half-word , double word , and quad or
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quad word ; some (indicated) have substantial information separate entries.
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2 bits: crumb , quad , quarter , tayste, tydbit, morsel 4 bits: nybble 5
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bits: nickle 10 bits: deckle 16 bits: playte, chawmp (on a 32-bit machine),
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word (on a 16-bit machine), half-word (on a 32-bit machine). 18 bits: chawmp
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(on a 36-bit machine), half-word (on a 36-bit machine) 32 bits: dynner,
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gawble (on a 32-bit machine), word (on a 32-bit machine), longword (on a
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16-bit machine). 36 bits: word (on a 36-bit machine) 48 bits: gawble (under
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circumstances that remain obscure) 64 bits: double word (on a 32-bit
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machine) quad (on a 16-bit machine) 128 bits: quad (on a 32-bit machine) The
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fundamental motivation for most of these jargon terms (aside from the normal
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hackerly enjoyment of punning wordplay) is the extreme ambiguity of the term
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word and its derivatives.
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