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From: dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Size of SysV "block" (really: byte != 8 bits)
Message-ID: <857@bsu-cs.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 20-Jul-87 16:05:37 EDT
Article-I.D.: bsu-cs.857
Posted: Mon Jul 20 16:05:37 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 22-Jul-87 05:28:51 EDT
References: <218@astra.necisa.oz> <142700010@tiger.UUCP> <2792@phri.UUCP>
Reply-To: dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi)
Organization: CS Dept, Ball St U, Muncie, Indiana
Lines: 34
Summary: In the 1980s a byte is 8 bits

In article <2792@phri.UUCP> roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) writes:
>In article <142700010@tiger.UUCP> rjd@tiger.UUCP writes:
>> O.K., I'll byte.  (oops, pun initially unintended.)   A byte IS eight bits!!!
>> Maybe you are thinking of a word??  And a nibble is four bits, and a gulp is
>> sixteen bits (or was this a mouthful?), etc....
>
>	No, no, no, a thousand times NO!  A byte is NOT NECESSARILY 8 bits!
>Granted, on most of the popular machines you are likely to see today (Vax,
>PDP-11, 680x0, 320xx, 80x86, Pyramid, etc, a byte is 8 bits, but that
>doesn't mean it has to be.  A byte is simply some collection of contigious
>bits taken as a unit. 

On modern machines, a byte is 8 bits.  

On obsolete hardware a byte can be of arbitrary size.

Since we are now in the 1980s going on to the 1990s, I think it's about
time we streamlined our terminlogy to reflect the times.

A byte is therefore exactly 8 bits.  No more and no less.  Opinions to
the contrary belong in the 1960s.  Let them lie there and die there.

It's time to upgrade from your 12-bit PDP-8 or your 60-bit CDC or your 
36-bit DEC-20 to a new architecture.

In his book "Reliable Data Structures in C", Thomas Plum gives portable
implementations of the memxxx functions (e.g.  memset(), memcpy()).  He
does not feel the need to point out that these are portable only if the
machine's word will hold exactly an integral number of chars.

If you are moving with the times, welcome aboard.  If you have your
feet firmly planted in the 1960s, lots of luck;  you will need it.
-- 
Rahul Dhesi         UUCP:  {ihnp4,seismo}!{iuvax,pur-ee}!bsu-cs!dhesi