NODE ecb7673cRe: 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
Re: questions about bits and bytes
4 expanded posts ยท every known parent and child
NODE 5cb0b7caRe: questions about bits and bytes
-----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]
NODE 924eb3a0Re: questions about bits and bytes [NOISE]
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.
-- JeffNODE 3f44ef70Re: questions about bits and bytes
>>>>> 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.