Octet, not byte

In general, we try to avoid using the term byte, because it is sometimes ambiguous, much like the term 'word' is. It is burden enough that the size of a word is machine-dependent, and since the size of a byte is too, let us dispense with it in favour of a term that is not: octet.

Bytes are almost always 8 bits. Octets are always 8 bits.

Sometimes hardware literature will take the liberty of using the term byte in their own given context. Let us not write hardware literature in such a way, and let us not give existing hardware literature such an excess deference when it does so.