zlacker

[return to "1 kilobyte is precisely 1000 bytes?"]
1. kmm+rb[view] [source] 2026-02-03 17:41:38
>>surpri+(OP)
And a megabyte is depending on the context precisely 1000x1000=1,000,000 or 1024x1024=1,048,576 bytes*, except when you're talking about the classic 3.5 inch floppy disks, where "1.44 MB" stands for 1440x1024 bytes, or about 1.47 true MB or 1.41 MiB.

* Yeah, I read the article. Regardless of the IEC's noble attempt, in all my years of working with people and computers I've never heard anyone actually pronounce MiB (or write it out in full) as "mebibyte".

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2. pif+7k[view] [source] 2026-02-03 18:13:51
>>kmm+rb
> I've never heard

It doesn't matter. "kilo" means 1000. People are free to use it wrong if they wish.

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3. tomber+aG[view] [source] 2026-02-03 19:41:14
>>pif+7k
All words are made up. They weren’t handed down from a deity, they were made up by humans to communicate ideas to other humans.

“Kilo” can mean what we want in different contexts and it’s really no more or less correct as long as both parties understand and are consistent in their usage to each other.

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4. nixpul+DP1[view] [source] 2026-02-04 02:16:58
>>tomber+aG
That's a terribly nihilistic outlook on language.

We agree to meaning to communicate and progress without endless debate and confusion.

SI is pretty clear for a reason.

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5. tomber+xW1[view] [source] 2026-02-04 03:15:45
>>nixpul+DP1
> We agree to meaning to communicate and progress without endless debate and confusion.

We decidedly do not do that. There's a whole term for new terms that arbitrarily get injected or redefined by new people: "slang". I don't understand a lot of the terms teenagers say now, because there's lots of slang that I don't know because I don't use TikTok and I'm thirty-something without kids so I don't hang out with teenagers.

I'm sure it was the same when I was a teenager, and I suspect this has been going on since antiquity.

New terms are made up all the time, but there's plenty of times existing words get redefined. An easy one, I say "cool" all the time, but generally I'm not talking about temperature when I say it. If I said "cool" to refer to something that I like in 1920's America, they would say that's not the correct use of the word.

SI units are useful, but ultimately colloquialisms exist and will always exist. If I say kilobyte and mean 1024 bytes, and if the person on the other end knows that I mean 1024 bytes, that's fine and I don't think it's "nihilistic".

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6. nixpul+uf3[view] [source] 2026-02-04 14:13:38
>>tomber+xW1
I didn't say all language is planned and agreed on. But we absolutely do plan and agree on things.
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