What do computers really understand? Even though it is possible to access internet sites, to talk to other people, or to write math essays on the computer, computers are really very dumb machines. They speak in a language called binary code, which is made up of only 1s and 0s. Binary code is easily translated into decimal numbers, but it gets confusing when the numbers in binary can easily be separated or put together unintentionally. Computers separate it into bits and bytes. This way, binary code can be translated into words, numbers, and other symbols. A computer can do many things all thanks to the binary code. Another way of thinking about binary code is to think of it in terms of electricity. If a 1 represents an on' switch, and a 0 represents an off' switch, the machine simply turns electricity on and off. All together, it seems like a complicated process; however, broken up, it is not that hard to understand. Binary code is a language used by computers, made up of 1s and 0s, and computers process it in the form of electricity.
Initially, binary code looks like a bunch of 1s and 0s. But, when broken down, it is not that hard to understand. For example, numbers in binary code are just powers of 2. 1 in binary code is 1, 10 is 2, 11 is 3, 100 is 4, 1000 is 8, and so on until 100000 is 32, 100001 is 33, 100010 is 34 Binary code can be used to say many things, as long as there is something to distinguish the symbols from one another.
How do computers tell the difference between symbols in binary code? How does a computer know that 101101010010010110 represents the numbers 181 and 150, and not 185394? Computers know to separate numbers thanks to bits and bytes. Bits, or binary digits, are a 1 or a 0. Bytes are a certain amount of bits "most commonly 8 bits. This separates the bits into more easily readable numbers. Bits and bytes make it easier for the computer to read separate symbols in binary code.
