- It has proved difficult to develop devices that can understand natural language directly due to the complexity of natural languages. However, it is easier to construct electric circuits based on the binary or ON and OFF logic. All forms of data can be represented in binary system format. Other reasons for the use of binary are that digital devices are more reliable, small and use less energy as compared to analog devices.
Bits, bytes, nibble and word
- The terms bits, bytes, nibble and word are used widely in reference to computer memory and data size.
- Bits: can be defined as either a binary, which can be 0, or 1.It is the basic unit of data or information in digital computers.
- Byte: a group of bits (8 bits) used to represent a character. A byte is considered as the basic unit of measuring memory size in computer.
- A nibble: is half a byte, which is usually a grouping of 4 bytes.
- Word: two or more bits make a word. The term word length is used as the measure of the number of bits in each word. For example, a word can have a length of 16 bits, 32 bits, 64 bits etc.
