Re: questions about bits and bytes
At 06:29 PM 4/10/96 -0700, Simon Spero wrote:
No, bytes are no always 8 bits - some machines use(d) 9-bit bytes.
I notice you gave no examples. Why is that? Jim Bell jimbell@pacifier.com
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- On Apr 10, 6:57pm, jim bell wrote:
At 06:29 PM 4/10/96 -0700, Simon Spero wrote:
No, bytes are no always 8 bits - some machines use(d) 9-bit bytes. I notice you gave no examples. Why is that? Perhaps he thought that most people who were interested could go look it up themselves.
- From a really quick web search, we find that the SGI Impact jams 9-bit bytes [that's what it says] across the Rambus internally. I'm not sure if the memory itself is 9-bit. richard -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMW0OIR1gtCYLvIJ1AQHvDQP/T5Xip82nGUzOO7diwoHw+BIiOXlpaEc2 oBuZ1VgMetcnr1qjANL8L5mvrMXUTJmZrDYwJ4VGSyErBX6Mm0Rz4OrMZy4mDvRt BzEI52MXfVzItZG95AcyiSXVcjVqCn1Hbo/MO3mzrVpvROy3ibsslDks30QFDC8j asImraxVlTE= =bAQH -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- Richard Martin [not speaking for a|w] rmartin@aw.sgi.com http://reality.sgi.com/rmartin_aw/ Alias|Wavefront - Toronto Office [Co-op Software Developer, Games Team]
Richard Martin writes:
On Apr 10, 6:57pm, jim bell wrote:
At 06:29 PM 4/10/96 -0700, Simon Spero wrote:
No, bytes are no always 8 bits - some machines use(d) 9-bit bytes. I notice you gave no examples. Why is that? Perhaps he thought that most people who were interested could go look it up themselves.
- From a really quick web search, we find that the SGI Impact jams 9-bit bytes [that's what it says] across the Rambus internally. I'm not sure if the memory itself is 9-bit.
[I told myself I was going to stay out of this, but Jim Bell's dogmatic stance irks me... ] Here's a citation from "Portability of C Programs and the Unix System" by S.C. Johnson and D.M. Ritchie (yes, that Richie) in the Bell System Technical Journal volume 57, Number 6, July-August 1978. "A representation of characters (bytes) must be provided with at least 8 bits per byte. ... Most programs make no explicit use of this fact, but the I/O system uses it heavily. (This tends to rule out one plausible representation of characters on the DEC PDP-10, which is able to access 5 7-bit characters in a 36-bit word with one bit left over. Fortunately, that machine can access four 9-bit characters equally well.) ..." The clear implication is that "byte" means the number of bits used or needed to represent a single character. -- Jeff
jim bell writes:
jb> At 06:29 PM 4/10/96 -0700, Simon Spero wrote:
No, bytes are no always 8 bits - some machines use(d) 9-bit bytes.
jb> I notice you gave no examples. Why is that? As I recall, the Honeywell H6000 used 6-bit bytes and 36-bit (6 byte) words. -- #include <disclaimer.h> /* Sten Drescher */ ObCDABait: For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. [Eze 23:20] Unsolicited email advertisements will be proofread for a US$100/page fee.
participants (4)
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Jeff Barber -
jim bell -
Richard Martin -
Sten Drescher