Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The binary code assigns a pattern of binary digits, also known as bits, to each character, instruction, etc. For example, a binary string of eight bits (which is also called a byte) can represent any of 256 possible values and can, therefore, represent a wide variety of different items. In computing and telecommunications, binary codes are used ...
For this reason, bit index is not affected by how the value is stored on the device, such as the value's byte order. Rather, it is a property of the numeric value in binary itself. This is often utilized in programming via bit shifting: A value of 1 << n corresponds to the n th bit of a binary integer (with a value of 2 n).
Mass storage devices are usually measured in decimal SI multiples, for example 1 TB = bytes. Confusingly, the storage capacity of a directly-addressable memory device, such as a DRAM chip, or an assemblage of such chips on a memory module, is specified as a binary multiple -- using the ambiguous prefix G rather than the IEC recommended Gi prefix.
If errors in representation and computation are more important than the speed of conversion to and from display, a scaled binary representation may be used, which stores a decimal number as a binary-encoded integer and a binary-encoded signed decimal exponent. For example, 0.2 can be represented as 2 × 10 −1.
Commonly, a decimal SI metric prefix (such as kilo-) is used with bit and byte to express larger sizes (kilobit, kilobyte). But, this is usually inaccurate since these prefixes are decimal, whereas binary hardware size is usually binary. Customarily, each metric prefix, 1000 n, is used to mean a close approximation of a binary multiple, 1024 n ...
The base-2 numeral system is a positional notation with a radix of 2.Each digit is referred to as a bit, or binary digit.Because of its straightforward implementation in digital electronic circuitry using logic gates, the binary system is used by almost all modern computers and computer-based devices, as a preferred system of use, over various other human techniques of communication, because ...
On most modern computers, this is an eight bit string. Because the definition of a byte is related to the number of bits composing a character, some older computers have used a different bit length for their byte. [2] In many computer architectures, the byte is the smallest addressable unit, the atom of addressability, say. For example, even ...
A unit for a large amount of data can be formed using either a metric or binary prefix with a base unit. For storage, the base unit is typically byte. For communication throughput, a base unit of bit is common. For example, using the metric kilo prefix, a kilobyte is 1000 bytes and a kilobit is 1000 bits.