Whats the difference between a bit and a byte?

Bit is the basic unit of information (0 or 1) and a
byte is 8 bits.


I learned this from an engineering student.

7.

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

bit is the basic unit of information (0 or 1)
byte is 8 bits.

The terms bit and byte are common in computer networking. Both terms refer to digital data transmitted over a network connection. For example, bits and bytes both may represent network addresses or port numbers.

A bit is a single numeric value, either '1' or '0', that encodes a single unit of digital information. A byte is a sequence of bits; usually eight bits equal one byte.

For example, in Internet Protocol (IP) networking, IP addresses contain 32 bits or 4 bytes. The bits encode the network address so that it can be shared on the network. The bytes divide the bits into groups.

The IP address 192.168.0.1, for instance, is encoded with the following bits and bytes:

11000000 10101000 00000000 00000001

Bits are grouped into bytes to, generally speaking, increase the efficiency of computer hardware, including network equipment, disks and memory.

Bits make up bytes

a bit is a binary digit which is the basic unit of informational storage
a byte is a colletion of bits (pretty much just the plural of bit)
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit

Just to clarify: an "octet" is a collection of eight bits. A "byte" is a basic unit of addressable storage in a computer system and generally corresponds with the size of a single character, usually between six and nine bits. Basically, it is the number of bits stored between sucessive memory locations. In this modern day and age, virtually all computers have a byte size of eight bits (they all use octets). I also seem to remember there being a "nibble" or "nybble" which is half a byte.

Hi,

A 'Bit' is one Binary Digit (a 1 or a 0) and a Byte is 8 bits.

Every character on a computer keyboard is translated into a unique string of 8 bits (a byte) in order to be processed by the computer's ALU.

Half of an eight-bit byte - four bits. Nibbles are important in hexadecimal and BCD representations.

Bit= 1 or 0
Byte= 11001101

the byte hurts,the bit doesn't.

A bit is a simple I/O switch or binary digit. An eight digit binary number is a byte. A bit takes either the value 0 or 1, and a byte takes a value 0 to 255. Single bytes were used in a lot of old video games (NES, Sega Master System, etc), so you might notice that some games had a timer start at 255, or some characters' stats would max out at 255.

A bit could look like this: 1
A byte could look like this: 10010100

A bit is the basic unit of computer language and information. A byte is the smallest unit of computer memory.

thank you so much :D

A bit is the basic binary unit, it's either a 1 or a 0. A byte is a combination of 8 bits and can represent a number, letter or a variety of other characters.

a byte does not have to be 8 bits, it depends on the hardware. a byte is also not necessarily the smallest unit of addressable memory.

a bit is either on or off. a byte is some machine dependent number of contiguous bits.

A bit is defined as: a single basic unit of information, used in connection with computers and electronic communication. All modern computers store and use data in digital form. The smallest unit of storage and measurement is one binary digit, therefore its name.

A byte, pronounced ‘bite’, is the next size up basic unit of measurement for information storage, usually consisting of eight bits. These 8 bits are grouped together to form a byte that is, a total or 8 grouped bits representing one character of data.

Hi,

A bit is a single numeric value, either '1' or '0', that encodes a single unit of digital information.
A byte is a sequence of bits; usually eight bits equal one byte.

For example, in Internet Protocol (IP) networking, IP addresses contain 32 bits or 4 bytes. The bits encode the network address so that it can be shared on the network. The bytes divide the bits into groups.

The IP address 192.168.0.1, for instance, is encoded with the following bits and bytes:

11000000 10101000 00000000 00000001

Bits are grouped into bytes to, generally speaking, increase the efficiency of computer hardware, including network equipment, disks and memory.