C++ proposal: There are exactly 8 bits in a byte

#1

Post by Twirrim » Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 10:21 PM UTC

Re: C++ proposal: There are exactly 8 bits in a byte

#2

Post by JamesStuff » Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 11:09 PM UTC

Not sure about that, seems pretty controversial to me. Are we forgetting about the UNIVACs?

#3

Post by TrueDuality » Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 11:10 PM UTC

This is both uncontroversial and incredibly spicy. I love it.

#4

Post by electricdreams » Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 11:12 PM UTC

[dead]

#5

Post by Quekid5 » Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 11:17 PM UTC

JF Bastien is a legend for this, haha.

I would be amazed if there's any even remotely relevant code that deals meaningfully with CHAR_BIT != 8 these days.

(... and yes, it's about time.)

#6

Post by throwaway889900 » Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 11:18 PM UTC

But how many bytes are there in a word?

#7

Post by o11c » Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 11:18 PM UTC

throwaway889900 wrote: post #6

But how many bytes are there in a word?

If you're on x86, the answer can be simultaneously 16, 32, and 64.

#8

Post by trebligdivad » Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 11:20 PM UTC

JamesStuff wrote: post #2

Not sure about that, seems pretty controversial to me. Are we forgetting about the UNIVACs?

Hopefully we are; it's been a long time, but as I remember indexing in strings on them is a disaster.

#9

Post by wvenable » Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 11:27 PM UTC

throwaway889900 wrote: post #6

But how many bytes are there in a word?

"Word" is an outdated concept we should try to get rid of.

#10

Post by cyberax » Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 11:27 PM UTC

But think of ternary computers!