Why is the smallest storage unit of a computer a byte? and the smallest transmission unit is bit?

Source: Internet
Author: User
Data storage is in "byte" (byte), data transfer is mostly with "bit" (bit, also known as "bit" as a unit, a bit represents a 0 or 1 (i.e., binary), each 8 bits (bit, abbreviated B) Form a byte (byte, abbreviated to B), is the smallest level of information units.
There are several ways to understand this:
1. Bytes (byte) is the smallest unit in the computer that represents the meaning of the information, because in normal circumstances a acsii code is a byte of space to store. In fact, there are even smaller units in the computer, because a byte is composed of eight bits, in other words, each bits occupies the space is the smallest unit in the computer, we call it bit, also known as bit (bit). Thus, a byte equals eight bits. The reason why people refer to bytes as the smallest unit of information meaning in a computer represents the most basic character, because a bit does not represent a relatively complete message in our real life. In addition, the smallest storage unit in memory operations is byte, and bitwise operations are based on a byte storage unit, so the smallest unit of storage can be interpreted as byte.

2.bit is a binary number of a containing information or 2 options specifically specified 1 of the required amount of information is called a bit, is the smallest unit representing the message, only two states: 0 and 1. The internal circuit of the computer has both high and low levels. So the signal is expressed in binary form so that the computer can recognize it. So the smallest unit that the computer can transmit is of course the unit bit of your signal, not the byte, the smallest of the serial port also has a pass. In addition the basic unit of the digital information flow is bit (bit), the basic unit of time is S (sec), so bit/s (bit/sec) is the unit that describes the bandwidth, the 1BIT/S is the basic unit of the bandwidth, and the so-called bandwidth actually refers to the speed of transmission, which means that in a fixed time (1 seconds), The maximum bit data that can be passed.
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