Byte Byte The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits, representing a binary number. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit of memory in many computer architectures. The size of the byte has historically been hardware dependent and no definitive standards existed that mandated the size – byte-sizes from 1 to 48 bits are known to have been used in the past. Early character encoding systems often used six bits, and machines
Byte (magazine) C, BASIC, assemblers), and coverage of the first microcomputer operating system, CP/M. "Byte" ran Microsoft's first advertisement, as "Micro-Soft", to sell a BASIC interpreter for 8080-based computers. In spring of 1979, owner/publisher Virginia Williamson sold "Byte" to McGraw-Hill. She remained publisher until 1983 and became a vice president of McGraw-Hill Publications Company. Shortly after the IBM PC was introduced, in 1981, the magazine changed editorial policies. It gradually de-emphasized the do-it-yourself electronics and software articles, and began running product reviews. It continued its wide-ranging coverage of hardware and software, but now it reported "what it does" and "how it works",