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About LinkBacksI know a byte is 8 bits and a word is the smallest unit of memory addressable in RAM. What I don't get is what's the point of having bytes?
This is a discussion on difference between byte and word within the Tech Board forums, part of the Community Boards category; I know a byte is 8 bits and a word is the smallest unit of memory addressable in RAM. What ...
I know a byte is 8 bits and a word is the smallest unit of memory addressable in RAM. What I don't get is what's the point of having bytes?
A quick check of the Wikipedia articles on byte and word shows that they discuss this in some detail, including possible corrections of the misconceptions that you may have. Have you read them and other articles online concerning these two terms?Originally Posted by c_weed
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"a byte... is the basic addressable element in many computer architectures." -wikipedia
"word is a term for the natural unit of data used by a particular processor design. A word is basically a fixed sized group of bits that are handled as a unit by the instruction set and/or hardware of the processor." -wikipedia
These definitions sound pretty similar to me. Is a byte a common size for a word?
> A word is basically a fixed sized group of bits that are handled as a unit by the instruction set and/or hardware of the processor.
(AFAIK) that means the size of a general purpose register(which is generally more than a byte) is a word.
Manasij Mukherjee | gcc-4.8.0 @Arch Linux
Slow and Steady wins the race... if and only if :
1.None of the other participants are fast and steady.
2.The fast and unsteady suddenly falls asleep while running !
