The Importance of Binary Patterns in Computing

All data in a computer is represented as numbers, this could be a program, something that you have typed in or loaded from disc, and anything held in the computer's memory. For example, all the characters in the alphabet are assigned a code number which has been internationally agreed, this code is known as the ASCII code. The computer is able to store the numbers by using binary patterns. It does this by using many thousands of switches each of which could be on or off. An on switch represents a binary 1 and an off switch represents a binary O. Only 1s and 0s are allowed in the binary number system. For example, 8 switches could hold the pattern :off on off off off off off on , this would be represented as 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 in binary. This binary number would represent 65 in our denary (or decimal) method of counting. The number 65 corresponds to the letter capital A in the ASCII character set. Why does the binary number 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 represent 65 in the denary system? 128s 0 64s 1 32s 0 16s 0 8s 0 4s 0 2s 0 1s 1 The columns represent 1s, 2s, 4s, 8s etc and not 1s, 10s, 100s as we are used to. = 0 + 64 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 1 = 65

Once you have completed this work you should have an understanding of Binary Counting, why Binary is used in computing and how codes are used to represent characters, how the size and power of computers have changed, and an idea of the composition of the Digital Universe.

(0x128) + (1x64) + (0x32) + (0x16) + (0x8) + (0x4) + (0x2) + (1x1)

Where are the switches inside the computer that hold these binary patterns? The switches are built into integrated circuits ("chips"), an individual switch is called a transistor, early integrated circuits had tens of these, and later thousands could be fitted onto a "chip". Today it is possible to have chips with more than a million switches on them, which means very powerful but small computers can be designed. The binary numbers used in a computer are usually a fixed number of digits for most operations. The binary digits known as BITs are grouped together in eights. Eight Bits = 1 Byte, 1024 Bytes = 1 Kilobyte, 1024 Kilobytes = 1 Megabyte, 1024 Megabytes = 1 Gigabyte. Generally speaking the more Bits that a computers processor can handle per second, the more powerful is the computer. Megabytes and Gigabytes are words that are also used to show computer memory and disk sizes. Check out the advert below. Can you see any of the new words above? What are they giving a measure of?

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Binary and Data Communications Fast transmission of binary patterns has meant that computers can communicate with each other and with disc drives printers etc. The patterns are merely translated into high or low pulses of electrical voltage down a wire (or pulses of light down an optical fibre) and converted back into the binary pattern at the other end. Computer networks are based on computer to computer communications. Networks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and the fastest networks are able to transmit video images, telephone transmission, and computer data all at the same time. The biggest computer network is known as "The Internet" and most computers would need a modem and a telephone line to become part of the Internet. A modem changes the digital on's and offs of a computer into tones suitable for the telephone lines and vice versa. Fast computer communications are now an accepted everyday way of life. Bank cash machines communicate with bank computers, supermarket tills communicate with the store computer, and many people use electronic mail as an essential part of their business life. How does one computer know what the other is talking about? Well they speak this binary code to each other. You can type a message on one computer, it can use the binary ASCII code to convert this message to a stream of 0s and 1s, and then it sends this bit stream to the other computer. The receiving computer can use the ASCII code to convert the binary bit patterns in the bit stream it received back into characters that humans can understand i.e. letters, commas, full stops etc. Start a document in word and give it the title Binary Patterns in Computing. Using full sentences, answer the following questions. You will have to use the Internet to do your research. 1. Why are binary patterns important in computing? 2. Find out what ASCII stands for. There should be a copy of the ASCII code attached to this sheet.
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Using your ASCII code table, calculator and pen and paper, fill in the missing binary and denary numbers and ASCII characters in the correct place in the table below. Then add your own two conversions in the last two rows which should be a sensible addition to the word spelt out in the last column. 128 0 0 0 64 1 1 1 32 0 0 1 16 1 0 0 8 0 1 0 4 1 1 1 2 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 O 119 s Denary Equivalent 87 73 ACSII Character W

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4. The ASCII code is now a little dated, what is the UNICODE system? Explain why it is now needed and what its advantages are compared with the ASCII code set of characters.
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Find an example which shows the Arabic UNICODE letters do not print, just look What has happened to computers since electronic computer components have become smaller and smaller? How might computers develop in the future? Look at the computer advertisement on the first page. Find a more modern advertisement and include it in your answers. What is RAM and how different is it compared to the example on the first page. Which computer component is this what is it used for? What does an 80GB Hard Disk shown on the first advertisement mean what is it used for? How different is the hard disk size on the advertisement you found? Complete the following table of computer storage units 8 Bits 1024 Bytes 1024 KB 1024 MB 1024 GB 1 Byte 1 Kilobyte 1 Megabyte 1 Gigabyte 1

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Read the following extract and comment on what items you think may be included in the digital universe the full article can be found in the root directory of InfTech (ICT)

Research published today (May 2010) estimates that the so-called digital universe grew by 62% last year to 800,000 petabytes - a petabyte is a million gigabytes or 0.8 zettabytes. That is the equivalent of all the information that could be stored on 75bn Apple iPads, which would equal the digital output from a century's worth of constant tweeting by all of Earth's inhabitants. By way of stark contrast between the output of present day humanity and its pre-digital predecessor, experts estimate that all human language used since the dawn of time would take up about 5,000 petabytes if stored in digital form, which is less than 1% of the digital content created since someone first switched on a computer. This year, the planet's digital content will blast through the zettabyte barrier to reach 1.2 ZB, according to the fourth annual survey of the world's bits and bytes conducted by technology consultancy IDC and sponsored by IT firm EMC. A zettabyte, incidentally, is roughly half a million times the entire collections of all the academic libraries in the United States. (from an article in the Guardian Newspaper)

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Binary Numbers
There are 8 bits in a byte. 128s 64s 32s 16s 8s 4s 2s 1s

ASCII codes
Char NULL SOH STX ETX EOT ENQ ACK BEL BS HT LF VT SF CR SO SI DLE DC1 DC2 DC3 DC4 NAK SYN ETB CAN EM SUB ESC FS GS RS US ASCII 00000000 00000001 00000010 00000011 00000100 00000101 00000110 00000111 00001000 00001001 00001010 00001011 00001100 00001101 00001110 00001111 00010000 00010001 00010010 00010011 00010100 00010101 00010110 00010111 00011000 00011001 00011010 00011011 00011100 00011101 00011110 00011111 Dec Char space ! " $ % & ' ( ) * + , . / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ? ASCII 00100000 00100001 00100010 00100011 00100100 00100101 00100110 00100111 00101000 00101001 00101010 00101011 00101100 00101101 00101110 00101111 00110000 00110001 00110010 00110011 00110100 00110101 00110110 00110111 00111000 00111001 00111010 00111011 00111100 00111101 00111110 00111111 Dec Char @ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _ ASCII 01000000 01000001 01000010 01000011 01000100 01000101 01000110 01000111 01001000 01001001 01001010 01001011 01001100 01001101 01001110 01001111 01010000 01010001 01010010 01010011 01010100 01010101 01010110 01010111 01011000 01011001 01011010 01011011 01011100 01011101 01011110 01011111 Dec Char ' a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z { | } ~ del ASCII 01100000 01100001 01100010 01100011 01100100 01100101 01100110 01100111 01101000 01101001 01101010 01101011 01101100 01101101 01101110 01101111 01110000 01110001 01110010 01110011 01110100 01110101 01110110 01110111 01111000 01111001 01111010 01111011 01111100 01111101 01111110 01111111 Dec

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