What does “loops per byte” mean to execute an algorithm?

Question

What does “loops per byte” mean to execute an algorithm?

Answer 1

From Wikipedia :

Cycles per byte (sometimes abbreviated cpb) - a unit of measure that indicates the number of clock cycles a microprocessor will work for each byte (usually with an octet) of data processed in the algorithm. This is commonly used as a partial indicator of real work in cryptographic functions.

On the IBM page :

(number of processors × processor_ recycling × processor clock speed) / Throughput in bytes per second or transaction per second = cycles per byte or transaction.

Answer 2

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