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This article is about the information storage unit. For other uses, see Byte (disambiguation).
.The byte (pronounced /ˈbaɪt/) is a unit of digital information in computing and telecommunications.^ Because a byte contains so little information, the processing and storage capacities of computer hardware are usually given in kilobytes (1,024 bytes) or megabytes (1,048,576 bytes).
  • Byte Definition | Definition of Byte at Dictionary.com 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC dictionary.reference.com [Source type: Reference]

 ^ Cite This Source Cultural Dictionary byte [(beyet)] In computer technology, a unit of information made up of bits (often eight bits).
  • Byte Definition | Definition of Byte at Dictionary.com 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC dictionary.reference.com [Source type: Reference]

 ^ Use unit suffixes: Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terabyte and Petabyte in order to reduce the number of digits to four or fewer using base 2 for sizes.
  • Number::Bytes::Human - search.cpan.org 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC search.cpan.org [Source type: Academic]

 .It is an ordered collection of bits, in which each bit denotes the binary value of 1 or 0. Historically, a byte was the number of bits (typically 6, 7, 8, or 9) used to encode a character of text in a computer[1][2] and it is for this reason the basic addressable element in many computer architectures.^ How many bits are in a byte?
  • WikiAnswers - How many bits are in a byte 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC wiki.answers.com [Source type: Reference]

 ^ How many bits n a byte?
  • WikiAnswers - How many bits are in a byte 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC wiki.answers.com [Source type: Reference]

 ^ How many bits in byte?
  • WikiAnswers - How many bits are in a byte 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC wiki.answers.com [Source type: Reference]

 .The size of a byte is typically hardware dependent, but the modern de facto standard is 8 bits, as this is a convenient power of 2.^ The move to an 8-bit byte happened in late 1956, and this size was later adopted and promulgated as a standard by the System/360 operating system (announced April 1964).
  • Byte Definition | Definition of Byte at Dictionary.com 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC dictionary.reference.com [Source type: Reference]

 ^ Since a byte is 8-bits on most hardware today, the hardware just pads the extra bit with a zero ( A =01000001).
  • FMTYEWTK about Characters vs Bytes 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.perlmonks.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Converting to utf-8 byte will need between 10M and 30M (typically) depending on the language.
  • Java Programming - String, encoding and bytes length.... 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC forums.sun.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .Most of the numeric values used by many applications are representable in 8 bits and processor designers optimize for this common usage.^ Today, Gigabytes is the most common term being used to describe the size of a hard drive.
  • Megabytes, Gigabytes, Terabytes - What Are They? 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC whatsabyte.com [Source type: General]

 ^ With many early computers these punch cards were used as input and output, and inasmuch as the total number of characters representable did not exceed 64, why not use just 6 bits each to represent them?
  • Origins of the Term "BYTE" 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.bobbemer.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Most web applications today are developed using higher-level languages such as, PHP, ASP, Perl, and Java.
  • The Web Application Security Consortium / Null Byte Injection 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC projects.webappsec.org [Source type: Reference]

 .Signal processing applications tend to operate on larger values and some digital signal processors have 16 or 40 bits as the smallest unit of addressable storage (on such processors a byte may be defined to contain this number of bits).^ The string of bits making up a byte is processed as a unit by a computer; bytes are the smallest operable units of storage in computer technology.
  • Byte Definition | Definition of Byte at Dictionary.com 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC dictionary.reference.com [Source type: Reference]

 ^ A byte may be 9 bits on 36-bit computers.
  • Byte Definition | Definition of Byte at Dictionary.com 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC dictionary.reference.com [Source type: Reference]

 ^ What are bits, bytes, and other units of measure for digital information?
  • What are bits, bytes, and other units of measure for digitalinformation? - Knowledge Base 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC kb.iu.edu [Source type: Reference]
.The term octet was explicitly defined to denote a sequence of 8 bits because of the ambiguity associated with the term byte and is widely used in communications protocol specifications.^ Some older architectures used "byte" for quantities of 6 or 7 bits, and the PDP-10 and IBM 7030 supported "bytes" that were actually bit-fields of 1 to 36 (or 64) bits!
  • Byte Definition | Definition of Byte at Dictionary.com 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC dictionary.reference.com [Source type: Reference]

 ^ The term byte is a device term (meaning it defines something in terms of the way the hardware was designed).
  • FMTYEWTK about Characters vs Bytes 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.perlmonks.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ BYTE : But aren't pirates interested in getting copies of programs because they want to use those programs, not because they want to use that knowledge to produce something better?
  • BYTE Interview with Richard Stallman - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF) 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.gnu.org [Source type: Original source]

Contents

History

The term byte was coined by Dr. Werner Buchholz in July 1956, during the early design phase for the IBM Stretch computer.[3][4][5] .Originally it was defined in instructions by a 4-bit field, allowing sixteen values and typical I/O equipment of the period used six-bit bytes.^ Some older architectures used "byte" for quantities of 6 or 7 bits, and the PDP-10 and IBM 7030 supported "bytes" that were actually bit-fields of 1 to 36 (or 64) bits!
  • Byte Definition | Definition of Byte at Dictionary.com 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC dictionary.reference.com [Source type: Reference]

 ^ Beyond the data you want to store, the content of any file, TIFF or otherwise, includes control structures, offsets and other bits and bytes used to allow programs to understand what they contain.
  • TIFF Byte Order: Mac or PC? - Photo Tips @ Earthbound Light 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.earthboundlight.com [Source type: Reference]

 ^ If you were using a Russian code-page, then a byte value of 136 meant one thing, but it meant an entirely different thing in the Netherlands' code-page.
  • FMTYEWTK about Characters vs Bytes 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.perlmonks.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .A fixed eight-bit byte size was later adopted and promulgated as a standard by the System/360.^ The move to an 8-bit byte happened in late 1956, and this size was later adopted and promulgated as a standard by the System/360 operating system (announced April 1964).
  • Byte Definition | Definition of Byte at Dictionary.com 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC dictionary.reference.com [Source type: Reference]

 ^ A byte usually consists of eight bits.
  • Byte Definition | Definition of Byte at Dictionary.com 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC dictionary.reference.com [Source type: Reference]

 ^ Cite This Source Cultural Dictionary byte [(beyet)] In computer technology, a unit of information made up of bits (often eight bits).
  • Byte Definition | Definition of Byte at Dictionary.com 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC dictionary.reference.com [Source type: Reference]

 .The term byte stems from bite, as in the smallest amount of data a computer could bite at once.^ The term was originally coined to mean the smallest addressable group of bits in a computer, which has not always been eight.
  • Wireless Net DesignLine : Design Resource for Automotive Engineering 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.wirelessnetdesignline.com [Source type: Reference]
  • EETimes Encyclopedia 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.eetimes.com [Source type: Reference]
  • Byte Definition from PC Magazine Encyclopedia 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.pcmag.com [Source type: General]

 ^ These terms are usually used in the world of computing to describe disk space, or data storage space, and system memory.
  • Megabytes, Gigabytes, Terabytes - What Are They? 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC whatsabyte.com [Source type: General]

 ^ If you have one byte, it's the only data you read so there's only one way to interpret it (again, because computers agree on what a byte is).
  • Understanding Big and Little Endian Byte Order | BetterExplained 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC betterexplained.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 [citation needed]
.
  • A contiguous sequence of binary bits in a serial data stream, such as in modem or satellite communications, which is the smallest meaningful unit of data.^ Bit: A Bit is the smallest unit of data that a computer uses.
    • Megabytes, Gigabytes, Terabytes - What Are They? 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC whatsabyte.com [Source type: General]

     ^ (B) A component in the machine data hierarchy larger than a bit and usually smaller than a word ; now nearly always eight bits and the smallest addressable unit of storage.
    • Byte Definition | Definition of Byte at Dictionary.com 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC dictionary.reference.com [Source type: Reference]

     ^ Tags: information technology concepts , Digital data representation , BITS , binary , Terabyte , 1s , &0's , PC Hardware , Coding Systems .
    • Bytes — Blogs, Pictures, and more on WordPress 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC en.wordpress.com [Source type: General]

     .These bytes might include start bits, stop bits, or parity bits, and thus could vary from 7 to 12 bits to contain a single 7-bit ASCII code.
  • A data type in certain programming languages.^ Well, this is fine for single-byte data, like ASCII text.
    • Understanding Big and Little Endian Byte Order | BetterExplained 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC betterexplained.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

     ^ An object of type Byte contains a single field whose type is byte .
    • Byte (Java Platform SE 6) 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC java.sun.com [Source type: Reference]
    • Byte (Java 2 Platform SE v1.4.2) 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC java.sun.com [Source type: Reference]
    • java.lang.Byte 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC doc.java.sun.com [Source type: Reference]

     ^ Tags: information technology concepts , Digital data representation , BITS , binary , Terabyte , 1s , &0's , PC Hardware , Coding Systems .
    • Bytes — Blogs, Pictures, and more on WordPress 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC en.wordpress.com [Source type: General]

     .The C and C++ programming languages, for example, define byte as "addressable unit of data large enough to hold any member of the basic character set of the execution environment" (clause 3.6 of the C standard).^ Best of BYTE , we bring together some of the leading programming language designers and implementors...
    • Byte.com Research Papers and Reports - Browse Directory 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC whitepaper.byte.com [Source type: Academic]

     ^ Database files contain codes that describe the data fields within the records, thus, a 500,000-byte database file might hold 450,000 characters of actual data.
    • Byte Definition from PC Magazine Encyclopedia 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.pcmag.com [Source type: General]

     ^ Unicode uses a BOM when storing multi-byte data (some Unicode character encodings can have 2, 3 or even 4-bytes per character).
    • Understanding Big and Little Endian Byte Order | BetterExplained 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC betterexplained.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

     .Since the C char integral data type must contain at least 8 bits (clause 5.2.4.2.1), a byte in C is at least capable of holding 256 different values.^ So, each byte has a value and is made up of 8 bits.
    • Understanding Big and Little Endian Byte Order | BetterExplained 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC betterexplained.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

     ^ A bit can hold the value 0 or 1.
    • Howstuffworks "How Bits and Bytes Work" 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.howstuffworks.com [Source type: Reference]

     ^ In other words, this method returns a Byte object equal to the value of: new Byte(Byte.parseByte(s)) Parameters: s - the string to be parsed Returns: a Byte object holding the value represented by the string argument NumberFormatException .
    • Byte (ELib API) 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.erights.org [Source type: Reference]

     .Various implementations of C and C++ define a byte as 8, 9, 16, 32, or 36 bits[6][7].^ Some older architectures used "byte" for quantities of 6 or 7 bits, and the PDP-10 and IBM 7030 supported "bytes" that were actually bit-fields of 1 to 36 (or 64) bits!
    • Byte Definition | Definition of Byte at Dictionary.com 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC dictionary.reference.com [Source type: Reference]

     ^ Quick review: a "short int" is a 2-byte (16-bit) number, which can range from 0 - 65535 (if unsigned).
    • Understanding Big and Little Endian Byte Order | BetterExplained 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC betterexplained.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

     ^ A byte may be 9 bits on 36-bit computers.
    • Byte Definition | Definition of Byte at Dictionary.com 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC dictionary.reference.com [Source type: Reference]

     The actual number of bits in a particular implementation is documented as CHAR_BIT as implemented in the limits.h file. Java's primitive byte data type is always defined as consisting of 8 bits and being a signed data type, holding values from −128 to 127.
.Early microprocessors, such as Intel 8008 (the direct predecessor of the 8080, and then 8086) could perform a small number of operations on four bits, such as the DAA (decimal adjust) instruction, and the half carry flag, that were used to implement decimal arithmetic routines.^ Of course there are a number of client side technology you could use including Flash, Sliverlight, or even Java Applet.
  • 84 Bytes | Development, Design, Applications, and the Web. 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.84bytes.com [Source type: General]

 ^ We could expand these decimal numbers out to binary numbers (so 32 = 00100000) if we wanted to be technically correct -- that is how the computer really deals with things.
  • Howstuffworks "How Bits and Bytes Work" 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.howstuffworks.com [Source type: Reference]

 ^ Decimal Numbers The easiest way to understand bits is to compare them to something you know: digits .
  • Howstuffworks "How Bits and Bytes Work" 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.howstuffworks.com [Source type: Reference]

 .These four-bit quantities were called nibbles, in homage to the then-common 8-bit bytes.^ The Mission of Bits & Bytes Farm is to help sellers (of Thoroughbred race horses for sale) to find buyers who have the ability to transition these horses to new careers.
  • Horses For Sale - Thoroughbred Horses For Sale - OTTBs - Bits & Bytes Farm 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC bitsandbytesfarm.com [Source type: General]

 ^ They are almost always bundled together into 8-bit collections, and these collections are called bytes .
  • Howstuffworks "How Bits and Bytes Work" 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.howstuffworks.com [Source type: Reference]

 ^ Everyone argued aggressively for his opinion (actually, while I dislike the 'his or her' usage that seems common now, the women professionals at BYTE were every bit as well informed as the men).
Historical IETF documents cite varying examples of byte sizes. .RFC 608 mentions byte sizes for FTP hosts (the FTP-BYTE-SIZE attribute in host tables for the ARPANET) to be 36 bits for PDP-10 computers and 32 bits for IBM 360 systems.^ On a 32-bit computer, a short is composed of 16 bits (2 bytes).
  • Understanding Big and Little Endian Byte Order | BetterExplained 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC betterexplained.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Tags: Computing 101 , Bit , BITS , Byte , bit byte difference , b .
  • Bytes — Blogs, Pictures, and more on WordPress 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC en.wordpress.com [Source type: General]

 ^ According to the IBM Dictionary of computing, when used to describe disk storage capacity, a megabyte is 1,000,000 bytes in decimal notation.
  • Megabytes, Gigabytes, Terabytes - What Are They? 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC whatsabyte.com [Source type: General]

 [8]

Size

.Architectures that did not have eight-bit bytes include the CDC 6000 series scientific mainframes that divided their 60-bit floating-point words into 10 six-bit bytes.^ That figure did not include the 20 foreign-language editions of BYTE published under license around the world.
  • Tom's Unofficial BYTE FAQ 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.halfhill.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ We’ll start with a number (3.14159) and flip the sign bit ( more info on floating point ).
  • Understanding Big and Little Endian Byte Order | BetterExplained 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC betterexplained.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ However, a lot of data needs to be stored using multiple bytes, like integers or floating-point numbers.
  • Understanding Big and Little Endian Byte Order | BetterExplained 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC betterexplained.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .These bytes conveniently held character data from punched Hollerith cards, typically the upper-case alphabet and decimal digits.^ Database files contain codes that describe the data fields within the records, thus, a 500,000-byte database file might hold 450,000 characters of actual data.
  • Mobile Handset DesignLine : Design Resource for Automotive Engineering 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.mobilehandsetdesignline.com [Source type: Reference]
  • Industrial Control DesignLine : Design Resource for Automotive Engineering 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.industrialcontroldesignline.com [Source type: Reference]
  • EETimes Encyclopedia 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.eetimes.com [Source type: Reference]
  • Byte Definition from PC Magazine Encyclopedia 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.pcmag.com [Source type: General]

 ^ Unicode uses a BOM when storing multi-byte data (some Unicode character encodings can have 2, 3 or even 4-bytes per character).
  • Understanding Big and Little Endian Byte Order | BetterExplained 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC betterexplained.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Ah -- now this statement tells the computer to point to the same place as p, and interpret the data as a single character (1 byte).
  • Understanding Big and Little Endian Byte Order | BetterExplained 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC betterexplained.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .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.^ Database files contain codes that describe the data fields within the records, thus, a 500,000-byte database file might hold 450,000 characters of actual data.
  • Video/Imaging DesignLine : Design Resource for Automotive Engineering 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.videsignline.com [Source type: Reference]
  • Wireless Net DesignLine : Design Resource for Automotive Engineering 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.wirelessnetdesignline.com [Source type: Reference]
  • EETimes Encyclopedia 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.eetimes.com [Source type: Reference]
  • Byte Definition from PC Magazine Encyclopedia 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.pcmag.com [Source type: General]

 ^ Byte Specifications The primary specifications of hardware are rated in bytes; for example, an 80-gigabyte (80GB) disk holds 80 billion characters of software and data.
  • Video/Imaging DesignLine : Design Resource for Automotive Engineering 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.videsignline.com [Source type: Reference]
  • Wireless Net DesignLine : Design Resource for Automotive Engineering 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.wirelessnetdesignline.com [Source type: Reference]
  • EETimes Encyclopedia 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.eetimes.com [Source type: Reference]
  • Byte Definition from PC Magazine Encyclopedia 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.pcmag.com [Source type: General]

 ^ Word processing files contain embedded codes for layout settings (margins, tabs, boldface); therefore, a 100,000-byte document might hold 90,000 characters of text (approximately 30 pages).
  • Video/Imaging DesignLine : Design Resource for Automotive Engineering 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.videsignline.com [Source type: Reference]
  • Wireless Net DesignLine : Design Resource for Automotive Engineering 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.wirelessnetdesignline.com [Source type: Reference]
  • EETimes Encyclopedia 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.eetimes.com [Source type: Reference]
  • Byte Definition from PC Magazine Encyclopedia 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.pcmag.com [Source type: General]

 .The PDP-10 used assembly instructions LDB and DPB to load and deposit bytes of any width from 1 to 36-bits—these operations survive today in Common Lisp.^ The Mission of Bits & Bytes Farm is to help sellers (of Thoroughbred race horses for sale) to find buyers who have the ability to transition these horses to new careers.
  • Horses For Sale - Thoroughbred Horses For Sale - OTTBs - Bits & Bytes Farm 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC bitsandbytesfarm.com [Source type: General]

 ^ Today, Gigabytes is the most common term being used to describe the size of a hard drive.
  • Megabytes, Gigabytes, Terabytes - What Are They? 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC whatsabyte.com [Source type: General]

 ^ Since a byte is 8-bits on most hardware today, the hardware just pads the extra bit with a zero ( A =01000001).
  • FMTYEWTK about Characters vs Bytes 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.perlmonks.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .Bytes of six, seven, or nine bits were used on some computers, for example within the 36-bit word of the PDP-10.^ Bit: A Bit is the smallest unit of data that a computer uses.
  • Megabytes, Gigabytes, Terabytes - What Are They? 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC whatsabyte.com [Source type: General]

 ^ Unicode uses a BOM when storing multi-byte data (some Unicode character encodings can have 2, 3 or even 4-bytes per character).
  • Understanding Big and Little Endian Byte Order | BetterExplained 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC betterexplained.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ Many people within the computer industry read BYTE to keep abreast of new and emerging technologies.
  • Tom's Unofficial BYTE FAQ 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.halfhill.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 .The UNIVAC 1100/2200 series computers (now Unisys) addressed in both 6-bit (Fieldata) and nine-bit (ASCII) modes within its 36-bit word.^ For ASCII (the American Standard for Computer Information Interchange), designers chose a 7-bit encoding ( A =1000001), giving room for encoding 128 different characters in those seven bits.
  • FMTYEWTK about Characters vs Bytes 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.perlmonks.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ As both of my regular readers surely know, I spend a fair bit of time scanning eBay's vintage computer areas looking for must-haves.
  • Byte Cellar 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC bytecellar.com [Source type: General]

 ^ This state can affect both further processing of input and further generation of output, but only for conversions that involve “shift sequences” to change modes within a stream.
.Factors behind the ubiquity of the eight bit byte include the popularity of the IBM System/360 architecture, introduced in the 1960s, and the 8-bit microprocessors, introduced in the 1970s.^ In more complex systems, a baud may include more than one bit.
  • Interactive Glossary of Internet Terms: Letter B 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.walthowe.com [Source type: Reference]

 .The term octet unambiguously specifies an eight-bit byte (such as in protocol definitions, for example).^ The term was originally coined to mean the smallest addressable group of bits in a computer, which has not always been eight.
  • Wireless Net DesignLine : Design Resource for Automotive Engineering 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.wirelessnetdesignline.com [Source type: Reference]
  • EETimes Encyclopedia 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.eetimes.com [Source type: Reference]
  • Byte Definition from PC Magazine Encyclopedia 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.pcmag.com [Source type: General]

 ^ That documentation contains more detailed, developer-targeted descriptions, with conceptual overviews, definitions of terms, workarounds, and working code examples.
  • Byte (Java 2 Platform SE v1.4.2) 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC java.sun.com [Source type: Reference]

 ^ For example, KBps (thousand bytes per second) is 8 times as great as Kbps (thousand bits per second).
  • Interactive Glossary of Internet Terms: Letter B 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.walthowe.com [Source type: Reference]

Unit symbol or abbreviation

Prefixes for bit and byte multiples
Decimal
Value SI
1000 k kilo
10002 M mega
10003 G giga
10004 T tera
10005 P peta
10006 E exa
10007 Z zetta
10008 Y yotta
Binary
Value IEC JEDEC
1024 Ki kibi K kilo
10242 Mi mebi M mega
10243 Gi gibi G giga
10244 Ti tebi
10245 Pi pebi
10246 Ei exbi
10247 Zi zebi
10248 Yi yobi
IEEE 1541 and Metric-Interchange-Format specify B as the symbol for byte (e.g., MB means megabyte), while IEC 60027 seems silent on the subject. Unfortunately, B is also used for bel, another unit used in the same field. The use of B to stand for bel is consistent with the metric system convention that capitalized symbols are for units named after a person (in this case Alexander Graham Bell); usage of a capital B to stand for byte is not consistent with this convention. .However, there is little danger of confusion because the decibel (dB) is used almost exclusively for bel measurements, while the decibyte (1/10 of a byte) is never used.^ There is no confusion that a short is 2 bytes.
  • Understanding Big and Little Endian Byte Order | BetterExplained 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC betterexplained.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ I’ll assume you are using a 4-byte integer because they are more common.
  • Understanding Big and Little Endian Byte Order | BetterExplained 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC betterexplained.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ However, if we look at memory one byte at a time (using our char * trick), the order could vary.
  • Understanding Big and Little Endian Byte Order | BetterExplained 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC betterexplained.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
The unit symbol KB is commonly used for kilobyte, but is often confused with the use of kb to mean kilobit. IEEE 1541 specifies b as the symbol for bit, however, the IEC 60027 and Metric-Interchange-Format specify bit (e.g., Mbit for megabit) for the symbol, achieving maximum disambiguation from byte.
The lowercase letter o for octet is a commonly used symbol in several non-English-speaking countries, and is also used with metric prefixes (for example, ko and Mo).
Today the harmonized ISO/IEC IEC 80000-13:2008 - Quantities and units -- Part 13: Information science and technology standard cancels and replaces subclauses 3.8 and 3.9 of IEC 60027-2:2005 (those related to Information theory and Prefixes for binary multiples). .See Units of Information for detailed discussion on names for derived units.^ Give them a call and see if you can arrange a meeting at their office and in person to discuss details and gather more information.

Unit multiples

See also: Binary prefix
Linearly growing percentage of the difference between decimal and binary interpretations of the unit prefixes when plotted against the logarithm of storage size.
.There has been considerable confusion about the meanings of SI (or metric) prefixes used with the unit byte, especially concerning prefixes such as kilo (k or K) and mega (M) as shown in the chart Prefixes for bit and byte.^ There is no confusion about what location 0 and location 1 mean.
  • Understanding Big and Little Endian Byte Order | BetterExplained 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC betterexplained.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ There is no confusion that a short is 2 bytes.
  • Understanding Big and Little Endian Byte Order | BetterExplained 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC betterexplained.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

 ^ SIZE The number of bits used to represent a byte value in two's complement binary form.
  • Byte (Java Platform SE 6) 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC java.sun.com [Source type: Reference]
  • Byte (Java Platform SE 7 b80) 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC download.java.net [Source type: Reference]
  • Byte (Java Platform SE 6) 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC edelstein.pebbles.cs.cmu.edu [Source type: Reference]

 .Since computer memory is designed with binary logic, multiples are expressed in powers of 2, rather than 10. The software and computer industries often use binary estimates of the SI-prefixed quantities, while producers of computer storage devices prefer the SI values.^ Nowadays more and more people prefer using the laptop computer over the desktop since it is very portable and occupies not so much space plus it is very functional.

 ^ Of course, I am not designing the software to run on the kinds of computers that are prevalent today.
  • BYTE Interview with Richard Stallman - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF) 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.gnu.org [Source type: Original source]

 ^ Right now a person who perceives the unpleasantness of the terms of proprietary software feels that he is stuck and has no alternative except not to use a computer.
  • BYTE Interview with Richard Stallman - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF) 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC www.gnu.org [Source type: Original source]

 This is the reason for specifying computer hard drive capacities of, say, 100 GB, when it contains 93 GiB of storage space.
.While the numerical difference between the decimal and binary interpretations is small for the prefixes kilo and mega, it grows to over 20% for prefix yotta, illustrated in the linear-log graph (see right) of difference versus storage size.^ Numerous media types and sizes make this Kyocera printer very usable in environments where different types of work must be copied or produced.

See also

References

  1. ^ R.W. Bemer and W. Buchholz (1962). "Planning a Computer System - Project Stretch". in Werner Buchholz. http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/IBM/Stretch/pdfs/Buchholz_102636426.pdf. , Chapter 6, Character Set
  2. ^ R.W. Bemer, A proposal for a generalized card code of 256 characters, Commun. ACM 2 (9), pp19–23, 1959.
  3. ^ Bob Bemer. "Origins of the Term "BYTE"". http://www.trailing-edge.com/~bobbemer/BYTE.HTM. Retrieved 2007-08-12. 
  4. ^ Werner Buchholz (July 1956). "TIMELINE OF THE IBM STRETCH/HARVEST ERA (1956–1961)". computerhistory.org. http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/IBM/Stretch/102636400.txt. 
  5. ^ "byte definition". http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/B/byte.html. 
  6. ^ [26] Built-in / intrinsic / primitive data types, C++ FAQ Lite
  7. ^ Integer Types In C and C
  8. ^ RFC 608, Host Names On-Line, M.D. Kudlick, SRI-ARC (January 10, 1974)
Units of information
Base units
Bit · Byte
Related units
Nibble · Word · Octet
Traditional units
IEC standard units
Bit-based units
Data types
Uninterpreted
Bit · Byte · Word
Numeric
Text
Pointer
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Wiktionary

Up to date as of January 14, 2010

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

See also byte

Contents

German

Etymology

From English, phonetically from 'by eigth'

Noun

Byte n.
  1. (computing) A byte, small binary data unit

Related terms

  • Kilobyte
  • Megaobyte
  • Gigabyte

Gaming

Up to date as of January 31, 2010

.From Wikia Gaming, your source for walkthroughs, games, guides, and more!^ Phone App BlackBerry App More Apps WordPress.org WordPress.tv Fan WP on Facebook Matt Your visual guide to WordPress From our blog .
  • Bytes — Blogs, Pictures, and more on WordPress 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC en.wordpress.com [Source type: General]

Eight bits. .The most basic unit of computer memory.^ Thankfully, most computers agree on a few basic data formats (this was not always the case).
  • Understanding Big and Little Endian Byte Order | BetterExplained 10 February 2010 12:50 UTC betterexplained.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]

See also


This article uses material from the "Byte" article on the Gaming wiki at Wikia and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.

Simple English

A byte is a unit of measurement. One byte is equal to eight bits. One byte can be any number from 0 to 255. Bytes are used when talking about the size of computer, or other electronic data (information).

Contents

Abbreviation

"Byte" is properly abbreviated as uppercase "B".

Sometimes it is incorrectly abbreviated as lowercase "b"; lowercase "b" is the abbreviation for "bit". For example, "MB" means "Megabyte" and "Mb" means "Megabit". The difference is important because 1 Megabyte (MB) is 1,000,000 bytes, and 1 Megabit (Mb) is 1,000,000 bits. It's easy to confuse the two, but bits are much smaller than bytes, so a lowercase "b" should be used when referring to "bits" and an uppercase "B" when referring to "bytes".

Names for larger units

For large data, byte is often used with a binary prefix:

Byte Chart

According to the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), who sets many computer standards, these charts show how bytes should be referred to.

"kilo-" = 1,000 bytes

When using standard metric names like "kilo-", "mega-" and "giga-", they should follow the same measure that other metric measurements use, like kilometer (1 kilometer = 1,000 meters) for example.

Byte (B) 1 1 byte
Kilobyte (KB) 1,000 1 thousand bytes
Megabyte (MB) 1,000,000 1 million bytes
Gigabyte (GB) 1,000,000,000 1 billion bytes
Terabyte (TB) 1,000,000,000,000 1 trillion bytes
Petabyte (PB) 1,000,000,000,000,000 1 quadrillion bytes
Exabyte (EB) 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 1 quintillion bytes
Zettabyte (ZB) 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 1 sextillion bytes
Yottabyte (YB) 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 1 septillion bytes

"kibi-" = 1,024 bytes

Since computers are digital devices that are based on the binary numeral system rather than the commonly-used decimal numeral system, there are many situations where the standard metric system does not work well, particularly with USB drives and other types of flash memory or RAM. People who refer to 1 Kilobyte as 1,024 bytes, for example, are technically incorrect; 1,024 bytes should be referred to as 1 Kibibyte, according to the IEC.

Byte (B) 1 20 bytes
Kibibyte (KiB) 1,024 210 bytes
Mebibyte (MiB) 1,048,576 220 bytes
Gibibyte (GiB) 1,073,741,824 230 bytes
Tebibyte (TiB) 1,099,511,627,776 240 bytes
Pebibyte (PiB) 1,125,899,906,842,620 250 bytes
Exbibyte (EiB) 1,152,921,504,606,840,000 260 bytes
Zebibyte (ZiB) 1,180,591,620,717,410,000,000 270 bytes
Yobibyte (YiB) 1,208,925,819,614,620,000,000,000 280 bytes

Retrieved from "http://yak.rapint.com/wiki/Byte"

Citable sentences

Up to date as of December 25, 2010

Here are sentences from other pages on Byte, which are similar to those in the above article.








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