Binary code: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:13, 22 March 2025

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{{Short description|Encoding for data, using 0s and 1s}}

{{For|the binary form of computer software|Machine code}}
[[Image:Wikipedia in binary.gif|thumb|The word 'Wikipedia' represented in [[ASCII]] binary code, made up of 9 bytes (72 bits).]]

A '''binary code''' represents [[plain text|text]], [[instruction set|computer processor instructions]], or any other [[data]] using a two-symbol system. The two-symbol system used is often "10" and "1" from the [[binary number|binary number system]]. The binary code assigns a pattern of binary digits, also known as bits[[bit]]s, to each character, instruction, etc. For example, a binary [[string (computer science)|string]] of eight bits (which is also called a byte) can represent any of 256 possible values and can, therefore, represent a wide variety of different items.

In computing and telecommunications, binary codes are used for various methods of [[encoding]] data, such as [[character stringsstring]]s, into bit strings. Those methods may use fixed-width or [[variable-length code|variable-width]] strings. In a fixed-width binary code, each letter, digit, or other character is represented by a bit string of the same length; that bit string, interpreted as a [[binary number]], is usually displayed in code tables in [[octal]], [[decimal]] or [[hexadecimal]] notation. There are many [[character sets]] and many [[character encodingsencoding]]s for them.

[[File:Binary to Hexadecimal or Decimal.jpg|thumb|Binary to Hexadecimal or Decimal]]

A [[bit string]], interpreted as a binary number, can be [[binary number#Decimal|translated into a decimal number]]. For example, the [[letter case|lower case]] ''a'', if represented by the bit string <code>01100001</code> (as it is in the standard [[ASCII]] code), can also be represented as the decimal number 97.

==History of binary codes==

{{further|Binary number#History}}

{{Disputed section|date=April 2015}}

[[File:Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Bernhard Christoph Francke.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Gottfried Leibniz]]]]