[swift-evolution] Why hard-code octet-sized bytes?

[Saagar Jha]

I'm not quite sure what you mean. Swift has a type called Int8 that
represents numbers from -128 to 127 using 8 bits. I don't see how this
"excludes" computers.

On Fri, Jun 17, 2016 at 13:01 Daryle Walker via swift-evolution <
swift-evolution at swift.org> wrote:

> When I first looked into Swift, I noticed that the base type was called
> “UInt8” (and “Int8”) and not something like “Byte.”  I know modern
> computers have followed the bog standard 8/16/32(/64) architecture for
> decades, but why hard code it into the language/library?  Why should 36-bit
> processors with 9-bit bytes, or processors that start at 16 bits, be
> excluded right off the bat?  Did you guys see a problem with how
> (Objective-)C(++) had to define its base types in a mushy way to
> accommodate the possibility non-octet bytes?
>
> BTW, is there an equivalent of CHAR_BIT, the number of bits per byte, in
> the library?  Or are we supposed to hard code an “8”?
>
> —
> Daryle Walker
> Mac, Internet, and Video Game Junkie
> darylew AT mac DOT com
>
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>
-- 
-Saagar Jha
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