CODEWITHSUNDEEP
variablesmemory
Jagga
Jagga

Reputation: 189

what is the smallest addressable memory unit?

i have came across some people who say that byte is the smallest addressable unit and others say that a memory word is the smallest addressable unit. But in either case if we use a variable of boolean type, does that mean that other 7 bits(in case of byte) or even more bits(in case of word) will just be let unused?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 4590

Answers (1)

user3344003
user3344003

Reputation: 21627

In ye olde days, there were computers with 36-bit words (for example). Those words were the smallest addressable units even though they could hold four-bytes (plus) of data.

If happen to be working on such a processor, words are the smallest addressable unit.

In nearly all case these days a WORD will be the same as a byte. (Although some assembly languages use WORD to indicate two-bytes).

Upvotes: 1

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