New Mexico Computer Science for All Author: Ed Angel Title: Bits and Bytes

Bits and Bytes Ed Angel Professor Emeritus of Computer Science University of New Mexico

Bits and Bytes What is a bit? What is a byte? What do they represent? How do I manipulate them?

Model of a Computer Processor Memory Program

Focus on Memory Stored as bits: 1’s and 0’s How stored varies ▫Paper tape ▫Punch cards ▫Magnetic core ▫Solid State ▫CDs and DVDs More important is what the bits represent

What can we store? Numbers ▫Binary: ▫Decimal: ▫Floating point: Characters (text) ▫Web pages Colors Programs Data

Why we should care We usually need not worry about how quantities are represented at the bit level but there are exceptions ▫Assigning colors in many applications ▫Use of different character sets Basic understanding of how computers work