1979 is quite recent as computer history goes, and many conventions had settled by then. The Wikipedia article discusses the etymology of "byte" and how the de

1979 is quite recent as computer history goes, and many conventions had settled by then. The Wikipedia article discusses the etymology of "byte" and how the definition evolved from loosely "a group of bits less than a word" to "precisely 8 bits". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte