Binary Puzzlement...

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   DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years ago

   Hi folks...
   I'm wondering if someone can sort out something for me.  Just a weird question  my wacky brain came up with today.
   I have a very limited understanding of how binary coding works:  all 1's and 0's, put together into various combinations to stand for characters used to input commands to the computer.  (or translated thereto from 'normal' language by the computer.)
   
   That's all I know about it. 
   
   So, today, as I was letting my mind wander, I came up with this question:  "If everything the computer needs to know comes down to 1's and 0's, then how in blazes to you represent a number that is nothing but 1's and 0's, such as $1001.00, without the computer trying to interpret that number as an instruction code?"

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   1. 85

      GA Andersonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Simple DzyMsLizzy,
      
      The computer will never see that "$1001.00". It will only see the binary data sets representing that number.
      
      Each of the characters in your number - $1001.00, that's eight different characters, would be represented, (coded), to the computer by a binary data set of 8 bits - a combination eight 0s and 1s,.
      
      For instance; the binary code for the $ sign is : 00100100
      
      for the ! it is; 00110001
      
      etc. etc.
      
      The computer is pre-programmed to know to read incoming data combinations in sets of eight. So it would read the first eight zeros and ones and say aha! that's a dollar sign. Next set of eight and aha! that's a one etc. etc.
      
      Tada! Get it?
      
      GA

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      1. 77

         DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Well, sort of, but not really.  How do you represent 1001 except with those very numbers, which undoubtedly mean something else.
         Suppose it was not money, but an article stating that 1001 people attended an event?

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            GA Andersonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            One of us has missed the point DzyMsLizzy.
            
            Your question was about Binary Code, and how a computer would know the difference between binary code and $1001.00.
            
            Here's how: The binary code that tells the computer; "The data is $1001.00" looks like this;
            00100100 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00101110 00110000 00110000
            
            When a coder, (or anyone) types a "1" on their keyboard, a "1" isn't what is sent to the computer - from the key click to the processor a conversion takes place.
            
            The key click sent a "1" but the processor, (computer), received a "00110001"
            
            Am I still missing your point?
            
            GA

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            1. 77

               DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

               I understand a little bit better, thank you.
               
               (I wonder if this is in any way related to the bogus 'scare' about machines crashing, etc. when Y2K arrived...)
               
               The overly-simplified basics I learned when teaching a Girl Scout badge back in the 1980s, used a 5-place binary code, able to equate to the numbers 1 through 16, via multiplication factors, each space doubling the one to its right, and it went like this:
               
               00000 = null value; 00001 = 1;  000010 = 2; 00100 = 4; 01000 = 8; and 10000 = 16.
               
               With that, we could create a simple alphabet cipher:
               
               A=00001 ; B=00010 ; C=00011 ; etc. until you got to Z, 11001.
               
               Stopping to think about it, that's a very cumbersome way to write notes, but we got good at it, and it was amusing to see the bewilderment on others' faces when they couldn't read what had been written.  LOL
               
               Perhaps all of that was way off base, and perfectly useless, but, it did impart the knowledge of how computers understand things.  I know it is exceedingly more complex than that!
               I remember reading, back in the day, about NASA having some trouble with one of its rockets, and sent the programmers back through the code, (one can only imagine the reams of paper it took to print out THOSE kinds of instructions), the problem came down to, believe it or not, a single missing comma!!!

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                  lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  Nope, that was more about the date change and had nothing to do with the binary system.

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                     DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                     Right; but I figured the date change would have had to involve some coding; hence, the use of the binary system.  ;-)

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                     1. 68

                        lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                        Yup. But they were worried about the way they programmed the computers I guess. Whether 1999 would change to 2000. It can't be a binary issue as the number 2000 could be displayed. Interesting question though Was a nice read.

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                        1. 76

                           wildernessposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                           The problem was not whether 1999 would become 2000; it was what would happen when 99 became 00.  Was 00 1900 or 2000?  Programmers abbreviated to a 2 digit year to save memory space, with the dates beginning in 1900.  So would 2000 become 1900?  No one knew, but apparently there was a distinct possibility that the country would crash, from the power grid to communications.
                           
                           We forget, but early computers put a premium on memory space, and great effort was made to conserve it.  My first home computer (a TI 99/4A) had the grand total of 16 K of RAM, and was probably the highest on the market.

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                              lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                              Ooh, that was the problem. I was barely in primary school back then. It was a global worry though, I remember an Uncle who was the head of the marketing and sales sector of his company in Denmark was super tensed.

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               2. 66

                  RonElFranposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  Not strictly on topic, but I have to protest - Y2k was not at all a "bogus scare"!
                  
                  The reason all the dire predictions didn't come true was not because they were overblown - they were not - but because an army of programmers, like myself, spent months, sometimes working day and night, changing millions of lines of code on critical computer systems to fix the problem ahead of January 1, 2000 so those systems wouldn't crash.
                  
                  Alas, from the standpoint of merited respect and appreciation, we did our jobs too well!

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                     Patty Inglish, MSposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                     I agree with all that, Ron. I was in British Columbia at the time and witnessed a programmer and network administrator spend innumerable hours on this project, including spending most of New Year's Eve day and night with their systems. They also stay tuned to the news of any effects from the East Coast across North America that night. It was exhausting.

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   ocfirefliesposted 6 years ago

   Loving this discussion!

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3. 77

   DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years ago

   I meant no offense to the army of programmers; my comment was based upon my late husband's observation, and he was in the industry at the time.  The "intelligence" they had been given indicated that it was more of  a marketing scheme dreamt up by Bill Gates as a way to sell lots and lots of new computers!
   
   That's really all I ever heard about it from an "insiders" information.  If that was wrong, sorry.

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      Patty Inglish, MSposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Wow. I never heard that, but I guess I would not be surprised.

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