Octet (computing) Octet (computing) The octet is a unit of digital information in computing and telecommunications that consists of eight bits. The term is often used when the term byte might be ambiguous, as the byte has historically been used for storage units of a variety of sizes. The term "octad(e)" for eight bits is no longer common. A variable-length sequence of octets, as in Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1), is referred to as an octet string. The international standard IEC 60027-2, chapter 3.8.2, states that a byte is an octet of bits. However, the unit byte has historically been platform-dependent and
Byte (magazine) not "how to do it". The editorial focus remained on home and personal computers). By the early 1980s "Byte" had become an "elite" magazine, seen as a peer of "Rolling Stone" and "Playboy", and others such as David Bunnell of "PC Magazine" aspired to emulate its reputation and success. It was the only computer publication on the 1981 Folio 400 list of largest magazines. "Byte"s 1982 average number of pages was 543, and the number of paid advertising pages grew by more than 1,000 while most magazines' amount of advertising did not change. Its circulation of 420,000 was the third