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by SomeOne on March 10th, 2007

SomeOne

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Whats the difference between a bit and a byte?

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  • by Anonymous on March 10th, 2007

    Anonymous

    A bit (short for binary digit) is the smallest unit of data in a computer. A bit has a single binary value, either 0 or 1.

    A byte is a unit of data that is eight binary digits long. A byte is the unit most computers use to represent a character such as a letter, number, or typographic symbol (for example, "g", "5", or "?"). A byte can also hold a string of bits that need to be used in some larger unit for application purposes (for example, the stream of bits that constitute a visual image for a program that displays images or the string of bits that constitutes the machine code of a computer program).

    In some computer systems, four bytes constitute a word, a unit that a computer processor can be designed to handle efficiently as it reads and processes each instruction. Some computer processors can handle two-byte or single-byte instructions.

    http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid5_gci211721,00.html

    Comments

    • Nice, complete and correct answer.

      science_geek

      by science_geek on March 10th, 2007

    • Thanks

      Anonymous

      by Anonymous on March 10th, 2007

    • A byte is *usually*, but not always, eight bits long. 8 bit bytes are the norm these days, but there are still exceptions. "Word" is most commonly used to describe a larger group of bits, but has no standard size. IA-32 architecture (what Intel uses for their procesessors) a word is a 16 bit byte.

      Anonymous

      by Anonymous on March 11th, 2007

    • I used to program (macine language)certain really archaic (now) microcontrollers that had 4 bit bytes.

      science_geek

      by science_geek on March 11th, 2007

    • That's right. A four bit byte is now usually referred to as a "nibble".

      Anonymous

      by Anonymous on March 11th, 2007

    • Correct, it was called that even then, I had forgotten that, it was back in the early '80s

      science_geek

      by science_geek on March 11th, 2007

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