Must be a very basic and dumb question. But ‘1001’ can be 9 and also 2 & 1 if ’10’ & ’01’ is taken seperately. I’m confused.
In: 49
The actual ELI5 answer: the same reason you understand 4803 as 4803 and not 48 and 3.
1. Separators: in this case, spaces or special sequences between words
2. Conventions: we use byte-sized words, so each 8 bits is a separate word
Of course, these have to be agreed upon by the sender and receiver.
The actual ELI5 answer: the same reason you understand 4803 as 4803 and not 48 and 3.
1. Separators: in this case, spaces or special sequences between words
2. Conventions: we use byte-sized words, so each 8 bits is a separate word
Of course, these have to be agreed upon by the sender and receiver.
You are 100% right about your question.
I developed on slow CPU (think about microwave, remote control, …) and desktop.
There is two parts you need to know.
The first one, what everyone will repeat in this thread, everything work as a multiple of 8 bits. (8 to 64 nowday). Like, you can’t send 7 or 9 bits, you need to ask a multiple of 8. See it like a box. You have specific boxes size to ship your stuff and worst case fill it with garbage.
Then, it is where you are right, the meaning on those numbers all depends on the CPU or software.
You need to read the CPU manual (called datasheet) to know how those bits will be interpreted because they could be 3 numbers within that 8 bits (like your example).
As for the software, well somebody (like me) programmed it to read it in a specific way to interpret part of that 8bits as I would like. So, the software know how to read it and interpret it.
For the ELI5, you can also see CPU as a software… Running human software
For desktop applications, except when size (bandwidth, space storage, …) may become big really fast, you don’t bother at all to try to squeeze as many numbers into one of those 8 bits multiple. We prefer readability over space nowday.
As for CPU… It can be quite common to have bits different meanings like your question. Again, you must read the datasheet (CPU manual).
I’ll just add — during the floppy disk era, you couldn’t even easily transfer a text document between systems. Every system had their own encoding schemes, not to mention their own disk formatting schemes. It was annoying.
You are 100% right about your question.
I developed on slow CPU (think about microwave, remote control, …) and desktop.
There is two parts you need to know.
The first one, what everyone will repeat in this thread, everything work as a multiple of 8 bits. (8 to 64 nowday). Like, you can’t send 7 or 9 bits, you need to ask a multiple of 8. See it like a box. You have specific boxes size to ship your stuff and worst case fill it with garbage.
Then, it is where you are right, the meaning on those numbers all depends on the CPU or software.
You need to read the CPU manual (called datasheet) to know how those bits will be interpreted because they could be 3 numbers within that 8 bits (like your example).
As for the software, well somebody (like me) programmed it to read it in a specific way to interpret part of that 8bits as I would like. So, the software know how to read it and interpret it.
For the ELI5, you can also see CPU as a software… Running human software
For desktop applications, except when size (bandwidth, space storage, …) may become big really fast, you don’t bother at all to try to squeeze as many numbers into one of those 8 bits multiple. We prefer readability over space nowday.
As for CPU… It can be quite common to have bits different meanings like your question. Again, you must read the datasheet (CPU manual).
You are 100% right about your question.
I developed on slow CPU (think about microwave, remote control, …) and desktop.
There is two parts you need to know.
The first one, what everyone will repeat in this thread, everything work as a multiple of 8 bits. (8 to 64 nowday). Like, you can’t send 7 or 9 bits, you need to ask a multiple of 8. See it like a box. You have specific boxes size to ship your stuff and worst case fill it with garbage.
Then, it is where you are right, the meaning on those numbers all depends on the CPU or software.
You need to read the CPU manual (called datasheet) to know how those bits will be interpreted because they could be 3 numbers within that 8 bits (like your example).
As for the software, well somebody (like me) programmed it to read it in a specific way to interpret part of that 8bits as I would like. So, the software know how to read it and interpret it.
For the ELI5, you can also see CPU as a software… Running human software
For desktop applications, except when size (bandwidth, space storage, …) may become big really fast, you don’t bother at all to try to squeeze as many numbers into one of those 8 bits multiple. We prefer readability over space nowday.
As for CPU… It can be quite common to have bits different meanings like your question. Again, you must read the datasheet (CPU manual).
I’ll just add — during the floppy disk era, you couldn’t even easily transfer a text document between systems. Every system had their own encoding schemes, not to mention their own disk formatting schemes. It was annoying.
I’ll just add — during the floppy disk era, you couldn’t even easily transfer a text document between systems. Every system had their own encoding schemes, not to mention their own disk formatting schemes. It was annoying.
Latest Answers