What Does Bit Stands for in Computers?
Bit is a short for Binary Digit. It means how much information is processed per clock cycle. A 64-bit computer processes 64 lots of information at one time. Each lot of information processed is made up of different combinations of 1's and 0's.
Value of Digits in Binary Numeral System:
What is Byte?
- A Byte is a term first coined by Werner Buchholz in 1956.
- A Byte is data equal to either seven or eight bits depending if it needs error correction (parity).
Memory Sizes:
Differences Between Bit and Byte:
Bit |
Byte |
| Bit is a binary value. | Byte is a unit of data consisting of 8 bits |
| Bit can hold a value of either zero or one. | Byte can hold 8 bits at a time. |
| Bit can be represented by having two voltages. | Byte represents collection of 8 bits having different voltages. |
Example:
Even casual users of computer networks will encounter bits and bytes in normal situations.
- IP addresses in IPv4 networking consist of 32 bits (4 bytes).
- The address 192.168.0.1, for instance, has values 192, 168, 0 and 1 for each of its bytes.
The bits and bytes of that address are encoded like so:
11000000 10101000 00000000 00000001