4 ms·

Very nice. One request: don't introduce the concept of 'nibble' on the first page. It's jargon that no one needs in this general introduction. And it just soun

by ajkjk 12y ago

Very nice. One request: don't introduce the concept of 'nibble' on the first page. It's jargon that no one needs in this general introduction. And it just sounds silly.

noonespecial 12y ago
I don't know. I heard about nibbles right at the beginning and then promptly forgot them. I even remember thinking that the word was silly. But it set me up for a very nice epiphany the first time I saw bytes written as hex and played a part in my instantly grasping that.
- ajkjk 12y ago
  I'd be curious to poll people's experiences, but, I can say that I had never heard the term until today and I've known this stuff for a number of years. And it sounds silly and adds nothing. That too. (edit: my education on this stuff was in the 00's. Sounds like it was more common in the 80s. I'd definitely support obsoleting the term entirely now, though! It adds unnecessary complexity.)
  - Icybee 12y ago
    I first read nybble/nibble in a book in the late 80s when I was a kid. I don't think I read or heard about it again for over a decade. It's never sounded silly to me, or at least no more silly than "byte", and it's at least slightly useful to explain converting hex.
  - userbinator 12y ago
    I suppose that nybbles are not encountered much now due to the fact that most systems are byte-oriented, but back when 4 and 8-bit CPUs were far more common relative to bigger systems, the term appeared quite often in documentation - especially when talking about BCD formats.
  - dagw 12y ago
    While I haven't heard or thought about the term in years, I do remember it from learning about computers in the 80's. I guess it made more sense back in the days when binary math and bit twiddling where a more common technique and keeping close track of the number of bits you where using was important.
  - rdc12 12y ago
    My algorithms teacher (3rd year paper) mentioned them when doing a few lectures on information theory, data compression and encoding, then set an assignment on implementing LZW or LZ78 with a bit-packer (and the inverse). The spec allowed you to either compress via bytes or nibbles. That was last year, I also got the impression that he liked to fill likely gaps that he could do with small detours.
  - couchand 12y ago
    It's yet another term that you can get by without knowing, and you'll probably be fine. But understanding why it's relevant to even have a word for it is the important insight. We should just as soon obsolete the term flip-flop.
    - programmer_dude 12y ago
      > We should just as soon obsolete the term flip-flop And replace it with what? Bistable multivibrator?
  - friendzis 12y ago
    0b11110000 == 0xF0 So two hexadecimal digits represent a byte. Likewise, one hex digit represents a nibble. I'm much more in favor of deprecating WORD as a synonym for byte
    - thedufer 12y ago
      > I'm much more in favor of deprecating WORD as a synonym for byte Its not a synonym for byte. In modern systems, a word is typically 4 or 8 bytes.

by ajkjk 12y ago

Very nice. One request: don't introduce the concept of 'nibble' on the first page. It's jargon that no one needs in this general introduction. And it just sounds silly.

noonespecial 12y ago

I don't know. I heard about nibbles right at the beginning and then promptly forgot them. I even remember thinking that the word was silly. But it set me up for a very nice epiphany the first time I saw bytes written as hex and played a part in my instantly grasping that.

ajkjk 12y ago
I'd be curious to poll people's experiences, but, I can say that I had never heard the term until today and I've known this stuff for a number of years. And it sounds silly and adds nothing. That too. (edit: my education on this stuff was in the 00's. Sounds like it was more common in the 80s. I'd definitely support obsoleting the term entirely now, though! It adds unnecessary complexity.)
- Icybee 12y ago
  I first read nybble/nibble in a book in the late 80s when I was a kid. I don't think I read or heard about it again for over a decade. It's never sounded silly to me, or at least no more silly than "byte", and it's at least slightly useful to explain converting hex.
- userbinator 12y ago
  I suppose that nybbles are not encountered much now due to the fact that most systems are byte-oriented, but back when 4 and 8-bit CPUs were far more common relative to bigger systems, the term appeared quite often in documentation - especially when talking about BCD formats.
- dagw 12y ago
  While I haven't heard or thought about the term in years, I do remember it from learning about computers in the 80's. I guess it made more sense back in the days when binary math and bit twiddling where a more common technique and keeping close track of the number of bits you where using was important.
- rdc12 12y ago
  My algorithms teacher (3rd year paper) mentioned them when doing a few lectures on information theory, data compression and encoding, then set an assignment on implementing LZW or LZ78 with a bit-packer (and the inverse). The spec allowed you to either compress via bytes or nibbles. That was last year, I also got the impression that he liked to fill likely gaps that he could do with small detours.
- couchand 12y ago
  It's yet another term that you can get by without knowing, and you'll probably be fine. But understanding why it's relevant to even have a word for it is the important insight. We should just as soon obsolete the term flip-flop.
  - programmer_dude 12y ago
    > We should just as soon obsolete the term flip-flop And replace it with what? Bistable multivibrator?
- friendzis 12y ago
  0b11110000 == 0xF0 So two hexadecimal digits represent a byte. Likewise, one hex digit represents a nibble. I'm much more in favor of deprecating WORD as a synonym for byte
  - thedufer 12y ago
    > I'm much more in favor of deprecating WORD as a synonym for byte Its not a synonym for byte. In modern systems, a word is typically 4 or 8 bytes.