Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!mcvax!unido!ecrcvax!bruno From: bruno@ecrcvax.UUCP (Bruno Poterie) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: Size of SysV "block" (really: byte != 8 bits) Message-ID: <422@ecrcvax.UUCP> Date: Mon, 20-Jul-87 12:41:53 EDT Article-I.D.: ecrcvax.422 Posted: Mon Jul 20 12:41:53 1987 Date-Received: Wed, 22-Jul-87 05:21:30 EDT References: <2792@phri.UUCP> <6705@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP> <524@ollie.UUCP> <2799@phri.UUCP> Reply-To: bruno@ecrcvax.UUCP (Bruno Poterie) Organization: ECRC, D-8000 Munich 81, West Germany Lines: 25 Keywords: octet byte [line-eater] The french "octet" is of the same family as "octal", and means no more than: [a group of] eight [bits]. We do use "byte" to indicate a (small) quantity of information, mostly a character, which ordinarily fit into an "octet". The confusion of the two notions is quite common, as everywhere (therefore this discussion), so one can see statements like: 1 octet = 1 byte which are wrong (but the inclusion of the second into the first is true). On some 36 bits machines I worked on, a byte was actually 12 bits, giving a 3 bytes/word machine. The fact is that those architectures were developed in a time were EBDIC was still dominant. I even started learning assembler and binary on a 19 bits machine! The word was described in octal, 6 full digits plus an additional 0 or 4. I let you imagine the joy of writing dump and conversion routines for us poor beginers.... :-( ================================================================================ Bruno Poterie # ... une vie, c'est bien peu, compare' a un chat ... ECRC GmbH # tel: (49)89/92699-161 Arabellastrasse 17 # Tx: 5 216 910 D-8000 MUNICH 81 # mcvax!unido!ecrcvax!bruno West Germany # bruno%ecrcvax.UUCP@Germany.CSNET ================================================================================