[r6rs-discuss] use of "bytes"

From: Chris Hanson <cph>
Date: Mon Nov 20 12:49:21 2006

This is kind of a minor issue, but I wonder how people feel about using
the word "octet" rather than "byte" for the report? "Octet" is very
precise, and was adopted by the IETF because a "byte" isn't necessarily
8 bits. (See definition from Wikipedia below.)

I don't have strong feelings about this, but I prefer the term "octet"
when I'm trying to make sure there's no ambiguity in my language.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The word "byte" has numerous closely related meanings:

   1. A contiguous sequence of a fixed number of bits (binary digits).
In recent years, the use of a byte to mean 8 bits has become nearly
ubiquitous.
   2. A contiguous sequence of bits within a binary computer that
comprises the smallest addressable sub-field of the computer's natural
word-size. That is, the smallest unit of binary data on which meaningful
computation, or natural data boundaries, could be applied. For example,
the CDC 6000 series scientific mainframes divided their 60-bit
floating-point words into 10 six-bit bytes. These bytes conveniently
held Hollerith data from punched cards, typically the upper-case
alphabet and decimal digits. CDC also often referred to 12-bit
quantities as bytes, each holding two 6-bit display code characters, due
to the 12-bit I/O architecture of the machine. The PDP-10 used assembly
instructions LDB and DPB to extract bytes?these operations survive today
in Common Lisp. Bytes of six, seven, or nine bits were used on some
computers, for example within the 36-bit word of the PDP-10.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Received on Mon Nov 20 2006 - 12:48:55 UTC