I’m asking this because data in game cartridges always seem to be shown in hexadecimal values instead of binary. I reckon maybe hexadecimal is more convenient than binary.
In: Technology
We sort of do, some times.
As other’s have explained, hex is just another, more succinct way to represent binary data. And typically, data is stored in binary.
But there is at least one exception: Mulit-Level Memory flash. Historically, flash memory stored binary data: 1 or 0. This is done by storing (or not storing) charge on the floating gate of a special transistor, making it be turned On or Off.
But it is also possible to store varying levels of charge on that floating gate, making the transistor off, a little bit on, or a lot on. For example, you can store 4 levels of charge on a floating gate and effectively store two binary bits of data (00, 01, 10, 11).
It is possible (although very rarely done) to store 16 different levels of charge on one flash transistor, which would equate to 4 binary bits or one hexadecimal digit. I’ve only ever heard of one application that actually did this (an old phone answering machine). It’s not done because the more levels you try to use, the more likely it is that you’ll get read errors.
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