byte

I’ts been a minute since I took computer organization, but the relevant wiki on ‘Byte’ gives some context. The byte was originally the smallest number of bits that could hold a single character (I assume standard ASCII). We still use ASCII standard, so 8 bits per character is still relevant. This sentence, for instance, is 41 bytes. … Read more

I’m not familiar with either of these books, but the second is closer to current reality. The first may be discussing a specific processor. Processors have been made with quite a variety of word sizes, not always a multiple of 8. The 8086 and 8087 processors used 16 bit words, and it’s likely this is … Read more