May 2019
Beginner
528 pages
29h 51m
English
Data items processed by computers form a data hierarchy that becomes larger and more complex in structure as we progress from the simplest data items (called “bits”) to richer ones, such as characters and fields. The following diagram illustrates a portion of the data hierarchy:

A bit (short for “binary digit”—a digit that can assume one of two values) is the smallest data item in a computer. It can have the value 0 or 1. Remarkably, the impressive functions performed by computers involve only the simplest manipulations of 0s and 1s—examining a bit’s value, setting a bit’s value and reversing ...
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