Digital resolution and other digital subjects

• Published in: Hydraulics & Pneumatics Vol. 63; no. 11; p. 14
• Main Author: Johnson, Jack L
• Format: Magazine Article Trade Publication Article
• Language: English
• Published: Nashville Endeavor Business Media LLC 01.11.2010; Endeavor Business Media
• Subjects: Computer industry; Computer software industry; Computers; Digital electronics; Digital technology; Hydraulic equipment; Microprocessors; Technology; Transistors; United States; United States > US
• ISSN: 0018-814X; 2162-1284

The binary numerical system is used for digital technology. Binary means that each fundamental element has two states: On (1) or off (0). Most light switches are binary devices, because they can be either on or off. Transistors can be configured in circuits so that they are either on or off, so each transistor is a binary device. They are referred to as switches, but they are not mechanical in the same sense that the light switch is. They are switches because they are binary. If we have two switches, they can exist in any one of four combinations - both off , the first on and the second off , the first off and the second on , or both on . Three bits produce eight unique combinations, and four bits produce 16 unique combinations. That is, if we have a circuit, or switch array consisting of N bits, then those N switches can exist in 2 [superscript]N different ways. The byte is a fabricated term to aid the creation of a so-called "computer word." The term byte was coined in the earliest days of the digital revolution by Dr. Werner Buchholz, of IBM, in July 1956. Byte became the basic unit for microprocessors in the 1970s. That is, the basic computer "word length" was chosen to be eight bits (one byte), but it is a de facto standard. But not all computers have 8-bit word lengths, so "bytes" can have differing numbers of bits depending on the application. However, bytes commonly applied in the industrial world have eight bits, so we will adopt that convention for this discussion.