this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2024
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1 kilobyte = 1024 bytes. This is a hill I'll die on.
The byte isn't even the base unit. Wanna talk about 1000 bits? Fine, that would be totally useless and confusing, but at least it would be consistent. Using decimal prefixes to describe binary numbers is just nonsensical. It's like trying to round off calendar days to a decimal approximation. Is the metric year 300 days? Fuck no, that's dumb,and so is saying a kilobyte is only 1000 bytes. The prefix is just a short hand, it's obvious that its precise meaning can and should change based on the unit, especially when forcing a decimal number system fails to be useful.
And furthermore, what about radians? Both radians and kilobytes are basically just a grouping mechanism for counting something else. Nobody talks about radians in decimal terms, always multiples or fractions of Pi. Kilobytes aren't really any different conceptually.
Yeah, not cool with trying to retroactively change definitions of units.
1000 bytes isn't meaningful. 1024 is.
I'm with you.
For me it was all the marketing shenanigans where you bought a 500GB drive and it had not 500GB but some multiple of ten * 500 bytes that started it all.
Leg them use kibibytes or whatever stupid name grrrr
/Rant off
1 kibibyte is 1024 bytes
Why should we change?