On 2010-10-25, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <l...@geek-central.gen.new_zealand> wrote: > In message <mailman.31.1287517442.2218.python-l...@python.org>, Petite > Abeille wrote: >> Characters vs. Bytes
> And why do certain people insist on referring to bytes as ???octets???? One common reason is that there have been machines on which "bytes" were not 8 bits. In particular, the usage of "byte" as "the smallest addressible storage" has been rather firmly ensconced in the C spec, so people used to that are likely aware that, on a machine where the smallest directly addressible chunk of space is 16 bits, it's quite likely that char is 16 bits, and thus by definition a "byte" is 16 bits, and if you want an octet, you have to extract it from a byte. -s -- Copyright 2010, all wrongs reversed. Peter Seebach / usenet-nos...@seebs.net http://www.seebs.net/log/ <-- lawsuits, religion, and funny pictures http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Game_(Scientology) <-- get educated! I am not speaking for my employer, although they do rent some of my opinions. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
