A byte is enough bits to represent 1 character. On older systems a
byte was only 6 bits because they only used uppercase, numbers and a
few other characters which fit within the 64 values that can be
represented by 6 bits.
6 bit bytes are also why octal was popular, and still supported in
compilers such as GCC. An 8 bit byte can be represented by 2 hex(base
16) characters from 0x00 to 0xff, while a 6 bit byte can be represented
by 2 octal(base 8) characters from 000 to 077(octal numbers are shown
with a leading 0).
Google on 6 bit byte or 7 bit byte and you'll turn up lots of other
info.
On Apr 11, 2005, at 6:34 PM, Ruffin Bailey wrote:
> Okay, we all know that every bit is sacred, but, out of curiosity, why
> are there 8 bits in a byte as opposed to 10 or 3?
>
> Just curious. Thanks.
>
> Ruffin Bailey
>
>
> Archives (includes files) at
> http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/archives/
> Unsub & more at http://stella.biglist.com
>
>
Darrell Spice, Jr.
www.spiceware.org
Archives (includes files) at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/archives/
Unsub & more at http://stella.biglist.com
