Right,

a bit is the smallest amount of information, that contains a true/false value,

in general something that can have only 2 values, thus is binary of nature.
As far as I know the bit was invented by Shannon (1948: A Mathemathical
Theory Of Communication) (the last word might as well be 'Information')
as Shannon was the founder of wat is called Information Theory. In this
book the BIT is introduced as the 'binary unit' of information.

Blad Cap wrote:

> On Mon, 2 Mar 1998 03:07:53 -0800 Andrew Warren <fastfwd@IX.NETCOM.COM>
> writes:
> >William Chops Westfield <PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU> wrote:
> >
> >> AFAIK, a "byte" did not have any inherent size prior to
> >> microcomputers and microprocessors (at which point it became 8 bits,
> >> since that was the native addressable size.)  CDC bytes were 6 bits,
> >> IBM varied, and the DEC PDP10 had special "byte pointer" instuctions
> >> that could handle any byte size from 1 to 36 bits within its 36-bit
> >> words (word addressable machine.)
> >
> >Bill:
> >
> >That's true, more or less... The word "byte" was originally defined
> >as the amount used to represent one character; when the word was
> >first coined, a "byte" was a six-bit number.
> >
> >However... The 8-bit definition of "byte" predates microcomputers and
> >microprocessors by over a decade; the IBM System/360, designed in the
> >'50s, started to standardize a "byte" as eight bits.  Ever since
> >then, most people have used the word "byte" specifically to mean an
> >eight-bit quantity, and referred to the other sizes -- imprecisely --
> >as "words".
> >
> >-Andy
> >
> >=== Andrew Warren - fastfwd@ix.netcom.com
> >=== Fast Forward Engineering - Vista, California
> >=== http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2499
> >
> Andy,
> You are right. Byte started as BYTE after IBM/360 came into life.
>
> I want to go back to "bit". As far as I had been learnt it comes from
> English word bit what  means smallest piece/amount of information which
> can not by divided or splitted any more.
>
> The origin of nibble is quite obscure. I think this is a pure modern
> programmer's jargon rarely being met in literature.
>
> Regards
> Blad Cap
>
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