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throwaway889900 | on: C++ proposal: There are exactly 8 bits in a byte
But how many bytes are there in a word?
o11c | parent | next
If you're on x86, the answer can be simultaneously 16, 32, and 64.
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wvenable | parent | next
"Word" is an outdated concept we should try to get rid of.
anigbrowl | root | parent | next
You're right. To be consistent with bytes we should call it a snack.
SCUSKU | root | parent
Henceforth, it follows that a doublesnack is called a lunch. And a quadruplesnack a fourthmeal.
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pclmulqdq | root | parent | next
It's very useful on hardware that is not an x86 CPU.
wvenable | root | parent | next
As an abstraction on the size of a CPU register, it really turned out to be more confusing than useful.
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BlueTemplar | root | parent
How exactly ? How else do you suggest CPUs do addressing ?

Or are you suggesting to increase the size of a byte until it's the same size as a word, and merge both concepts ?

wvenable | root | parent
I'm saying the term "Word" abstracting the number of bytes a CPU can process in a single operation is an outdated concept. We don't really talk about word-sized values anymore. Instead we mostly explicit on the size of value in bits. Even the idea of a CPU having just one relevant word size is a bit outdated.
elteto | parent | next
There are 4 bytes in word:

  const char word[] = {‘w’, ‘o’, ‘r’, ‘d’};
  assert(sizeof word == 4);
Taniwha | parent
I've seen 6 8-bit characters/word (Burroughs large systems, they also support 8 6-bit characters/word)