From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=MAILING_LIST_MULTI, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 10705 invoked from network); 18 May 2020 13:59:05 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 18 May 2020 13:59:05 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id C17669C1DD; Mon, 18 May 2020 23:59:02 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A867C9C160; Mon, 18 May 2020 23:58:33 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 47FC89C160; Mon, 18 May 2020 23:58:30 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail.cs.dartmouth.edu (mail.cs.dartmouth.edu [129.170.212.100]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id BD04D9C15F for ; Mon, 18 May 2020 23:58:29 +1000 (AEST) Received: from tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (tahoe.cs.dartmouth.edu [129.170.212.20]) by mail.cs.dartmouth.edu (8.15.2/8.15.2) with ESMTPS id 04IDwQtK613242 (version=TLSv1.3 cipher=TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 bits=256 verify=NO) for ; Mon, 18 May 2020 09:58:26 -0400 Received: from tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (8.15.2/8.14.3) with ESMTP id 04IDwQ1P114941 for ; Mon, 18 May 2020 09:58:26 -0400 Received: (from doug@localhost) by tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (8.15.2/8.15.2/Submit) id 04IDwQ25114938 for tuhs@tuhs.org; Mon, 18 May 2020 09:58:26 -0400 From: Doug McIlroy Message-Id: <202005181358.04IDwQ25114938@tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU> Date: Mon, 18 May 2020 09:58:26 -0400 To: tuhs@tuhs.org User-Agent: Heirloom mailx 12.5 7/5/10 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: [TUHS] v7 K&R C X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" > [A]lthough these days "byte" is synonymous with "8 bits", historically it > meant "the number of bits needed to store a single character". It depends upon what you mean by "historically". Originally "byte" was coined to refer to 8 bit addressable units on the IBM 7030 "Stretch" computer. The term was perpetuated for the 360 family of computers. Only later did people begin to attribute the meaning to non-addressable 6- or 9-bit units on 36- and 18-bit machines. Viewed over history, the latter usage was transient and colloquial. Doug