in reply to Re^4: word size
in thread word size

everyone works in multiples of 8 bytes. I think that this dominance of 8 bits is a consequence of the internet

I'd put it down to the fact that computer manufacturers don;t make their own memory any more, but buy in standard parts.

However, there can be (rare) machines where the char can be 32 or 16 bits.

But char != byte.

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The "good enough" maybe good enough for the now, and perfection maybe unobtainable, but that should not preclude us from striving for perfection, when time, circumstance or desire allow.

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Re^6: word size
by ambrus (Abbot) on Sep 09, 2005 at 08:11 UTC

    Here, char doesn't mean character, but the char type in C. That char corresponds to my idea of a byte, but of course, in some cases it might be different from what a byte really is according to the CPU. Whatever, $Config{ivsize} and the other macros give the size of an IV in chars.

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