Binary Code

I, like most others believe the computer is one of the greatest phenomenon. It really is amazing how a processor can input and output a series of binary numbers of 0’s and 1’s in order to accomplish tasks from displaying simple text, to generating a video game.

Binary number is exactly what it sounds like. It is a set of 2 numbers (0,1) which the computer processor "understands",  through the different series of numbers and patterns it can output anything. Of course, as a user, we do not generally see these numbers, we get the end result which is program itself.

On the developer side, however, there is somewhat of a closer connection. We have programming languages; using Java, C++, Python etc. We write out code using the appropriate syntax for the computer to process, the computer reads our language as a source code, which converts it to binary numbers and produces an output.

Its amazing how technology has grown over the decades. Maybe in several thousand years things will be to the hit movie The Terminator, where computers take over the world. Who knows, binary code might be the new English. Luckily our generation won't see anything like that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apCLHmPsC68


Raymond Tao