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Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes

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On 2013-06-03, Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 02 Jun 2013 21:25:45 +0200, Mok-Kong Shen
><mok-kong.shen@t-online.de> declaimed the following in
> gmane.comp.python.general:
>
>
>> b'7' is the byte with the character 7 in a certain code, so that's
>> ok. In other PLs one assigns an int to a byte, with that int in either
>
> 	In other languages "byte" is an 8-bit signed/unsigned numeric.

That's a common assumption, but historically, a "byte" was merely the
smallest addressable unit of memory.  The size of a "byte" on widely
used used CPUs ranged from 4 bits to 60 bits.

Quoting from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte

    "The size of the byte has historically been hardware
     dependent and no definitive standards existed that mandated the
     size."

That's why IEEE standards always use the word "octet" when referring a
value containing 8 bits.
     
Only recently has it become common to assume that an "byte" contains 8
bits.

-- 
Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! It's a lot of fun
                                  at               being alive ... I wonder if
                              gmail.com            my bed is made?!?

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Thread

How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Mok-Kong Shen <mok-kong.shen@t-online.de> - 2013-05-27 16:45 +0200
  Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-05-27 15:00 +0000
    RE: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Carlos Nepomuceno <carlosnepomuceno@outlook.com> - 2013-05-28 03:37 +0300
  Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Ned Batchelder <ned@nedbatchelder.com> - 2013-05-27 11:30 -0400
    Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-05-28 00:31 +0000
      Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2013-05-27 20:41 -0400
    Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Mok-Kong Shen <mok-kong.shen@t-online.de> - 2013-05-30 20:26 +0200
      Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2013-05-30 12:42 -0600
        Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes jmfauth <wxjmfauth@gmail.com> - 2013-05-30 11:53 -0700
      Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Ned Batchelder <ned@nedbatchelder.com> - 2013-05-30 15:22 -0400
        Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Mok-Kong Shen <mok-kong.shen@t-online.de> - 2013-06-02 21:25 +0200
          Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-06-03 05:54 +1000
          Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2013-06-02 21:48 -0400
            Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2013-06-03 14:31 +0000
              Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Dave Angel <d@davea.name> - 2013-06-03 18:07 -0400
                Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2013-06-03 22:34 +0000
              Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Dan Stromberg <drsalists@gmail.com> - 2013-06-03 15:41 -0700
                Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2013-06-04 13:39 +0000
                Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Joshua Landau <joshua.landau.ws@gmail.com> - 2013-06-04 20:51 +0100
                Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-06-05 07:49 +1000
                Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2013-06-04 20:34 -0400
                Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Tim Roberts <timr@probo.com> - 2013-06-04 22:11 -0700
                Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Fábio Santos <fabiosantosart@gmail.com> - 2013-06-12 15:00 +0100
                Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2013-06-12 14:42 +0000
              RE: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Carlos Nepomuceno <carlosnepomuceno@outlook.com> - 2013-06-04 02:18 +0300
                Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2013-06-04 13:42 +0000
                RE: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Carlos Nepomuceno <carlosnepomuceno@outlook.com> - 2013-06-04 16:58 +0300
              Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Dan Stromberg <drsalists@gmail.com> - 2013-06-03 16:47 -0700
  Re: How to get an integer from a sequence of bytes Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2013-05-28 16:04 +0000

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