>>>>>I've been thinking about this this morning. Who invented the zero based approach, which applies to a lot of things in several development environments, including, among others, .NET. This is always a waste of time trying to understand/find which one applies to a specific component. I mean, when I start counting, I start at 1, right? lol
>>>>
>>>>You'd not find it odd if a byte was bits 1-9 ? :-}
>>>
>>>Maybe a typo? I understand some systems use(d) 9 bits per byte, but they're rare.
>>
>>:-}
>>Yea, typo.....
>>But I suppose you could have a 9 bit system?
>
>Yes, depending on hardware (e.g. 36-bit) or C/C++ implementation (can specify 9 bits per byte):
>
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/36-bit
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte

I just learned something -- spare bits. In a way it makes no sense to me, whereas 8 bits / binary makes perfect sense. After all, it comes down to electrical gates that can be either on or off.

Thanks for the wiki references, BTW. Don't forget to donate ;-) Unlike most of our endeavors, it is exactly what it set out to be -- the world's encyclopedia, free and user supported. I kicked in $50, with the intention of making an annual donation. It's not like I'm Bill Gates or Warren Buffett but this is an easy one to justify. All I have to do is have soup and fruit al desko for lunch the next two weeks instead of running out and grabbing something and it's more than paid for.