Wednesday, April 8, 2009

2.1.2.1 : The Relationship of Data Representation: bit, byte & character

Bit:
A bit is the smallest unit of data that the computer can process. Bit is a short for binary digit. A bit is represented by the numbers 1 and 0. These numbers represent the binary system. They correspond to the states of on & off or true & false, or yes & no. All digital data use the binary system to process the information. This information include letters, digits or special character.
Byte:
Byte is a unit of information built from bits. One byte is equals to 8 bits. Eight bits that are grouped together as a unit. A byte provides enough different combinations of 0s and 1s to represent 256 individual characters. One byte represents a single character such as the number 3, letter b or a $ symbol. Bits and bytes are the basis for representing all meaningful information and programs on computers.
Character:
A byte represents a single character in the computer. One character such as A, 7, 9 and + is eight bits that are grouped together. For example, the capital letter F is represented by the binary code 01000110 that can be understood by the computer system. Eight bits grouped together as a unit are called a byte.

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