a bit about bit
Information is communication that has value because it informs. This distinction can be helpful for dealing with data from television, magazines, etc. Information has value, data does not. But it is not always clear and it is not absolute. What constitutes information to one person may be data to another.
One communication theory defines information as anything that can be communicated whether it has value or not.
One communication theory defines information as anything that can be communicated whether it has value or not.
bit basics
![Picture](/uploads/4/9/6/2/49627667/9222617.jpg?305)
Computers do not understand letters,numbers, etc.. They break them into bits.
Bit: From Binary digit
Bit: From Binary digit
- Smallest unit of information computer can process
- Can have one of two values: 0 or 1
- Collection of 8 bits
- Can represent 256 different messages (256 = 28)
bits as numbers
Computers use binary number system, a system that denotes all numbers with combinations of 0s and 1s.
Today’s computers include software that converts decimal numbers into binary numbers automatically, and vice versa. This process cannot be seen by the user.
Today’s computers include software that converts decimal numbers into binary numbers automatically, and vice versa. This process cannot be seen by the user.
bits as codes
![Picture](/uploads/4/9/6/2/49627667/2015837.gif?341)
Codes represent each letter, digit, and special character
ASCII: Most widely used
ASCII: Most widely used
- Each character is a unique 8-bit code
- 256 unique codes for 26 letters, 10 digits, special characters
- The alphabet starts with the number 65
![Picture](/uploads/4/9/6/2/49627667/8005321.png?313)
Unicode: Supports more than 100,000 unique characters more than enough for all major world languages.
worlds languages
- ASCII character set was originally designed to include only English-language characters from 0 to 127
- Unicode’s international standard character set allows for more than 100,000 distinct codes to include Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Arabic characters
bits, bytes, and buzzwords
Byte = 8 bits or one character in ASCII
- Kilobyte (KB, K) ≈ 1,000 bytes
- Megabyte (meg, MB) ≈ 1,000 KB or 1 million bytes
- Gigabyte (gig, GB) ≈ 1,000 MB or 1 billion bytes
- Terabyte (TB) ≈ 1 million MB or 1 trillion bytes
- Petabyte (PB) ≈ 1 quadrillion bytes