Difference between revisions of "A 31 5"
From Riddley Walker Annotations
Eli Bishop (talk | contribs) (Created page with "* {{PP|31|5}} "Sum tyms bytin sum tyms bit" Computer terms again: a bit is a binary digit (a single 1 or 0) and a byte is a series of eight bits corresponding to a single char...") |
(No difference)
|
Latest revision as of 21:45, 28 July 2013
- (31:5) "Sum tyms bytin sum tyms bit"
Computer terms again: a bit is a binary digit (a single 1 or 0) and a byte is a series of eight bits corresponding to a single character; computers encode all information as a sequence of bits. (The pun is not Hoban's; with typical engineer humor, "byte" was coined after "bit" was already in use—spelled with a Y to make the two words more visually distinct—and "nibble" is a little-used term for half a byte.) The convenience of the binary system for digital electronics is only the most recent example of human beings' inclination to summarize everything in terms of two opposites.