מי אחראי לקביעה שבייט זה 8 ביט?

[ynigun]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Brooks#:~:text=In%202004%20in,everywhere.%22%5B16%5D

[ynigun]

https://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/brooks_1002187.cfm#:~:text=The%20importance%20of,in%20text%20processing.

[ynigun]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oOCrAePJMs

[ynigun]

https://www.infoq.com/news/2022/12/fred-brooks-obituary/

[ynigun]

לchatGPT יש דיוקים בעניין, וצ"ע.

Who decided that a bit is 8 bytes?

The decision that a byte is 8 bits is a design choice made by early computer architects and engineers. This choice was made because 8 bits can represent a wide range of numerical values, and it is also a power of 2, which makes it easy to work with in binary arithmetic and other computer operations. The byte was first defined as a unit of data storage in 1956 by the International Electrotechnical Commission, but it was not until the 1960s that the 8-bit byte became widespread in computer systems.

Was there a point where a byte was 6 bits?

In the early days of computing, there was some variation in the definition of a byte. For example, some early computers used a 6-bit or a 9-bit byte. However, the 8-bit byte became the dominant standard in the 1960s, and it has remained so to this day. The 8-bit byte was first defined as a unit of data storage in 1956 by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). This definition was later adopted by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in the 1960s. It's worth to mention that some machines still use a different byte size, like the 18-bit byte in some specialized machines like the UNIVAC 1108.

Did Frederick Brooks have a part in this decision?

Frederick Brooks, who is best known for his book "The Mythical Man-Month" and his work on IBM's System/360 and the OS/360 operating system, did not have a direct role in the decision to make a byte 8 bits. The decision to make a byte 8 bits was made by early computer architects and engineers before Brooks entered the field of computing. However, Brooks was a key figure in the development of the System/360 and OS/360, which were some of the first computer systems to widely use 8-bit bytes. He was the project leader for the development of the IBM System/360, which was announced in 1964 and was one of the first computer systems to use 8-bit bytes as the standard unit of data storage. So, he played a role in the adoption and popularization of 8-bit bytes in the computer industry.