Bytes On A Computer
a: Computer bytes ~
b: standard light switch
What: Think of a standard light switch; the circuit can have two states. It's either closed with electricity flowing trough it or open so no charge can flow. Each byte that makes up a number stored in a computer is ultimately nothing more than a series of tiny electrical switches, with on (closed) and off (open) values. The computer interprets a series of other consecutive on/off values into something interesting for us humans, such as a letter or a number.
If the tiny little switch=0, it's off
If the tiny little switch=1, it's on
Useful?
Writer: Timothy Boronczyk
LCC: QA
Where:
Date: Nov 30 2009 3:01 PM
# 179 Critique Analogy