Orgin of the term "byte", 1956
Rohit Khare (rohit@uci.edu)
Fri, 19 Jan 1906 09:30:49 -0800
>Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 10:14:26 -0700
>From: Mark Boolootian <booloo@cats.ucsc.edu>
>To: Lloyd Wood <L.Wood@surrey.ac.uk>
>Cc: braden@isi.edu, end2end-interest@isi.edu, vjs@calcite.rhyolite.com
>Subject: Re: wee tee cee pee (or "Worlds Tiniest Web Server")
>Reply-To: booloo@cats.ucsc.edu
>Mail-Followup-To: Lloyd Wood <L.Wood@surrey.ac.uk>, braden@ISI.EDU,
> end2end-interest@ISI.EDU, vjs@calcite.rhyolite.com
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>
>
>> > If memory serves, the term "byte" was invented by IBM when
>> > they designed the Stretch computer.
>>
>> by Werner Buchholz, in fact. 1956.
>
>Some further support from the web:
>
> The term BYTE was coined in 1956 by Dr. Werner Buchholz of IBM. A
> question-and-answer session at an ACM conference on the history of
> programming languages included this exchange:
>
> JOHN GOODENOUGH: You mentioned that the term "byte" is used in JOVIAL.
> Where did the term come from?
>
> JULES SCHWARTZ (inventor of JOVIAL): As I recall, the AN/FSQ-31, a
> totally different computer than the 709, was byte oriented. I don't
> recall for sure, but I'm reasonably certain the description of that
> computer included the word "byte," and we used it.
>
> FRED BROOKS: May I speak to that? Werner Buchholz coined the word as part
> of the definition of STRETCH, and the AN/FSQ-31 picked it up from
> STRETCH, but Werner is very definitely the author of that word.
>
> SCHWARTZ: That's right. Thank you.
>
>
>Culled from http://members.aol.com/jeff570/b.html