Byte sizes (was Re: 2.8M 3.5' floppy

[Steven Canning]

Huh ? Please explain the difference between what Paul and I stated and what
you wrote below. They all look the same to me.... ?

Best regards, Steven C.


> > [h]ere in California, the cultural and computing center of the
> > universe (you're suppose to laugh at this point), a "byte" was always
> > 8 bits, half-word was 16 bits (or a short-word) and a word was 32
> > bits (or a long-word). Steven C.
>
> This must be a different California from the one that developed 4.3BSD
> for the VAX, a machine on which a byte is 8 bits, a word 16, and 32 is
> a long (or more formally longword) - terminology inherited in large
> part (in toto?) from the PDP-11 and for some reason I do not understand
> not updated to match the VAX.
>
> /~\ The ASCII der Mouse

> "word" for 16 bits and "longword" for 32 bits IS the VAX terminology.
> The VAX kept the PDP-11 terminology for the simple reason that the VAX
> was supposed to be seen as an upward compatible extension of the
> PDP-11.  That's clear from the PDP-11 instruction set emulation, of
> course.  It's also clear from the data formats used -- not just the
> integer data but also F and D float come straight from the PDP-11,
> even though on a VAX those layouts look very contorted.
>
>      paul