IIRC, a bunch of Ye Olde systems used 6-bit bytes. And I think 36-bit ints were used in a few architectures, but don't quote me on that.
- Dave Sweeris > On Jun 17, 2016, at 22:48, Félix Cloutier via swift-evolution > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Out of curiosity, can you name an architecture that doesn't use 8-bit bytes? > > Félix > >> Le 17 juin 2016 à 13:01:33, Daryle Walker via swift-evolution >> <[email protected]> a écrit : >> >> When I first looked into Swift, I noticed that the base type was called >> “UInt8” (and “Int8”) and not something like “Byte.” I know modern computers >> have followed the bog standard 8/16/32(/64) architecture for decades, but >> why hard code it into the language/library? Why should 36-bit processors >> with 9-bit bytes, or processors that start at 16 bits, be excluded right off >> the bat? Did you guys see a problem with how (Objective-)C(++) had to >> define its base types in a mushy way to accommodate the possibility >> non-octet bytes? >> >> BTW, is there an equivalent of CHAR_BIT, the number of bits per byte, in the >> library? Or are we supposed to hard code an “8”? >> >> — >> Daryle Walker >> Mac, Internet, and Video Game Junkie >> darylew AT mac DOT com >> >> _______________________________________________ >> swift-evolution mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution > > _______________________________________________ > swift-evolution mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution
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