byte
866 Views

GC: n

CT: A byte is a term first coined by Werner Buchholz in 1956 and later became more of a standard thanks to Bob Bemer and others. A byte is data equal to either seven or eight bits depending if it needs error correction (parity). You can think of a byte as one letter, for example, the letter ‘h’ is one byte or eight bits and the word ‘hope’ as four bytes or 32 bits (4*8).
When looking at the size of a file, a byte is the smallest measurement size listed in operating systems. However, because most files are bigger than 1,024 bytes (one kilobyte), most users will see small files listed in kilobytes.

S: CompHope – http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/b/byte.htm (last access: 30 April 2016)

N: 1. 1956, American English; see bit. Reputedly coined by Dr. Werner Buchholz at IBM.
Perhaps alteration of bite. First Known Use: 1962.

2. Byte, the basic unit of information in computer storage and processing. A byte consists of 8 adjacent binary digits (bits), each of which consists of a 0 or 1. 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. A byte can represent the equivalent of a single character, such as the letter B, a comma, or a percentage sign, or it can represent a number from 0 to 255.

3. Information Processing (Informatics): byte.

  • A string that consists of a number of bits, treated as a unit, and usually representing a character or a part of a character.
  • The number of bits in a byte is fixed for a given data processing system.
  • The number of bits in a byte is usually 8.
  • A byte should be called an “octet” when it consists of exactly 8 bits.
  • byte: term and definition standardized by ISO/IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission).
  • French equivalent: multiplet. Avoid anglicism byte.

4. Information Processing (Informatics): octet, 8-bit byte, byte.

  • A string that consists of eight bits.
  • byte: Only equivalent to an octet when it consists of exactly 8 bits. Despite the term’s widespread use to mean “octet,” “octet” is the more precise term.
  • octet: The term is used in preference to “byte” in ISO/IEC 19762 and in the ASN.1 standards to avoid confusion in cases where there is a hardware association, e.g. 7-bit byte, 16-bit byte.
  • byte; 8-bit byte: terms and definition standardized by CSA International.
  • octet; 8-bit byte: terms standardized by ISO/IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission).
  • French equivalent: octet.

S: 1. Etymonline – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=byte (last access: 30 April 2016); MW – http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/byte (lasta access: 30 April 2016). 2. EncBrit – http://global.britannica.com/technology/byte (last access: 30 April 2016). 3 & 4.TERMIUM PLUS – http://goo.gl/IN5Csw (last access: 30 April 2016).

SYN:
S:

CR: computer science, bit .