Integer

__Integers__
In computer science, the term **integer** is used to refer to a data type which represents some finite subset of the mathematical integers. These are also known as **integral data types.** The term //byte// initially meant ‘the smallest addressable unit of memory’. In the past, 5-, 6-, 7-, 8-, and 9-bit bytes have all been used. There have also been computers that could address individual bits (‘bit-addressed machine’), or that could only address 16- or 32-bits (‘word-addressed machine’). The term //byte// was usually not used at all in connection with bit- and word-addressed machines. The term //octet// always refers to an 8-bit quantity. It is mostly used in the field of computer networking, where computers with different byte widths might have to communicate. In modern usage //byte// almost invariably means eight bits, since all other sizes have fallen into disuse; thus //byte// has come to be synonymous with //octet.// .