2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
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byte
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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/bi:t/ , n. [techspeak] A unit of memory or data equal to the amount used to
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represent one character; on modern architectures this is invariably 8 bits.
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Some older architectures used byte for quantities of 6, 7, or (especially) 9
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bits, and the PDP-10 supported bytes that were actually bitfields of 1 to 36
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bits! These usages are now obsolete, killed off by universal adoption of
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power-of-2 word sizes. Historical note: The term was coined by Werner
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Buchholz in 1956 during the early design phase for the IBM Stretch computer;
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originally it was described as 1 to 6 bits (typical I/O equipment of the
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period used 6-bit chunks of information). The move to an 8-bit byte happened
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in late 1956, and this size was later adopted and promulgated as a standard
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by the System/360. The word was coined by mutating the word bite so it would
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not be accidentally misspelled as bit. See also nybble.
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