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

(www.open-std.org)
232 points Twirrim | 1 comments | 17 Oct 24 22:21 UTC | HN request time: 0.201s | source
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kreco ◴[17 Oct 24 23:44 UTC] No.41874966[source]▶
I'm totally fine with enforcing that int8_t == char == 8-bits, however I'm not sure about spreading the misconception that a byte is 8-bits. A byte with 8-bits is called an octet.

At the same time, a `byte` is already an "alias" for `char` since C++17 anyway[1].

[1] https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/types/byte

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spc476 ◴[18 Oct 24 03:32 UTC] No.41876119[source]▶
My first experience with computers was 45 years ago, and a "byte" back then was defined as an 8-bit quantity. And in the intervening 45 years, I've never come across a different meaning for "byte". I'll ask for a citation for a definition of "byte" that isn't 8-bits.
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1. kreco ◴[18 Oct 24 08:27 UTC] No.41877397[source]▶
That's interesting because maybe a byte will not be 8-bit in 45 years from now on.

I'm mostly discussing from the sake of it because I don't really mind as a C/C++ user. We could just use "octet" and call it a day, but now there is an ambiguity with the past definition and potential in the future definition (in which case I hope the term "byte" will just disappear).