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Discussion on: BaseCS: Intro to Binary

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aaronmeza profile image
Aaron Meza • Edited

And kilo has a long-standing definition in science - it's the SI prefix that means to multiple by 1000. Yes, when you're working on the bit level it makes sense to think in powers of 2 (and I've done this, working on tar streams and file system drivers and whatnot where things sometimes don't align on byte boundaries).

As you said, the B means byte which is 8 bits. That still doesn't change the fact that kilo means 1000. Kibi means 1024. Kilobyte = 1000 bytes. Kibibyte = 1024 bytes. This isn't a new-fangled definition.

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codemouse92 profile image
Jason C. McDonald • Edited

While "Kilo-" does indeed mean 1000 in and of itself, "Kilobyte" has always meant 1024 until recently. Retroactive continuity amendments aside, since KB started out as meaning 1024, it should have persisted on meaning that.