Byte
From Sega Retro
A byte is a collection of eight bits (a binary value of 0 or 1) or two nybbles. A nybble is represented by single digit from 0 to F (sixteen numbers, thus hexadecimal). As such, bytes are represented by a two-digit number from 00 to FF (totalling 256 numbers).
There are two bytes in a word and four bytes in a double-word (or long word). Additionally, 1024 bytes make a kilobyte, 1024 kilobytes make a megabyte, 1024 megabytes make a gigabyte, 1024 gigabytes make a terabyte, etc.
Examples
- Nybbles represent single pixels in Mega Drive graphics.
- Bytes represent ASCII characters.
- Words represent one colour in a Mega Drive palette.
- Double-words are used as absolute pointers in Mega Drive programming.