Re: The integral type 'byte' (was Re: Suggested method for returning a string from a C program?)

On 26/03/2025 15:08, Janis Papanagnou wrote:

On 26.03.2025 11:29, David Brown wrote:

>
In the UK at least, home computers were wildly popular from the start of
the 1980's, when they became much cheaper, had usable BASIC languages,
and a wide supply of games.  DOS and CP/M systems were pretty much
business only - home computers hugely outnumbered such systems.
Virtually all home computers were 8-bit - though most users would have
little knowledge of that.

 I basically agree. Only that those geeks and nerds who privately
bought such computer systems here were mostly informed about the
technical details.

That would, I think, apply to the technically-minded adults who bought early computers themselves - rather than the kids whose parents bought them.

 (Ah, now I remember the system name I forgot in a previous post;
it was a "Schneider" PC with CPM. And some toy called Sinclair ZX
or so.)

The Sinclair computers (ZX81, ZX Spectrum) launched a generation of programmers and technically-minded kids in the UK - it was much more than a toy.  I learned machine code programming on a Spectrum (along with a BBC Micro), as well as some Forth, C, Pascal and Logo, in addition to the built-in BASIC.