Thread: difference between byte and word

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    difference between byte and word

    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?

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    C++ Witch laserlight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by c_weed
    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?
    Quote Originally Posted by Bjarne Stroustrup (2000-10-14)
    I get maybe two dozen requests for help with some sort of programming or design problem every day. Most have more sense than to send me hundreds of lines of code. If they do, I ask them to find the smallest example that exhibits the problem and send me that. Mostly, they then find the error themselves. "Finding the smallest program that demonstrates the error" is a powerful debugging tool.
    Look up a C++ Reference and learn How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

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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?

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    [](){}(); manasij7479's Avatar
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    > 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.

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