Absolute size of 'short'

[der Mouse]

In article <8398 at smoke.ARPA>, gwyn at smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn ) writes:
> In article <1382 at ficc.uu.net> peter at ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes:
>> I wanna say 'int:9 color' or 'int color:9' and only use up one byte
>> on a Honeywell or Sperry.
> Yes!  It annoys me that people have been brainwashed into thinking
> that a "byte" is necessarily 8 bits and that there is something
> special about that chunk size other than its current popularity.

Well, lots of things work out nicelier (:-) when the chunk sizes are
powers of two.  I wouldn't mind 16-bit "byte"s, but I sure wouldn't be
fond of 9-bit "byte"s.

> It is the BIT that is truly fundamental;

Tell that to someone with a decimal-based calculator.  (Yes, I know the
dpANS requires unsigned integers to behave "as if" binary were the
basic numbering system.)

By the way, does anyone know of a non-mechanical digital calculator or
computer that isn't essentially binary?

					der Mouse