Data Representations Applet
What can you do with thirty-two bits? Computers use strings of bits to represent all the different types of data that they have to work with, so the answer must be that you can do a lot of different things. A given string of 32 bits can represent all kinds of things, depending on the context in which it is used. That is, the same bits can encode different things, depending on how they are interpreted.
This page contains an applet that lets you see different interpretations of the same 32-bit binary number. The applet lets you type in a data value. You can select the type of data you want to enter by clicking on one of the five radio buttons. Just type your data into the input box at the top of the applet, and press return. You can also click on the 8-by-4 grid of "big pixels" at the center of the applet. The various data representations are described below.
This applet was originally written by David Eck for use with his introductory computer science textbook The Most Complex Machine. However, it can also be used on its own.
For a list of other applets and for lab worksheets that use the applets, see the index page.
Data Types
The Data Representation Applet shows six different interpretations for the same string of thirty-two bits. The six interpretations are: a binary number, an integer, a hexadecimal number, a real number, a string of four characters and an eight-by-four grid of pixels. Here is a short explanation of each of the six data displays.
- Binary
- This is the most direct display of the 32 bit binary number, showing a zero or one to represent each individual bit.
- Base-ten Integer
- A binary number can be interpreted as a normal positive integer (0, 1, 2, 3, 4,...) written in the "base ten". With 32 bits, you can represent 232 different numbers. Usually, you want to use both positive and negative numbers. The scheme for representing negative numbers is a bit strange. It is explained in Subsection 2.2.3 of The Most Complex Machine. Using 32 bits, the integers from -2147483648 to 2147483647 can be represented.
- Hexadecimal
- It is difficult (for humans) to read long strings of zeros and ones. Hexadecimal numbers are a kind of shorthand for writing such strings. A hexadecimal number is written using the sixteen "hexadecimal digits" 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Each hexadecimal digit stands for four bits. So 0 represents 0000, 1 represents 0001, 2 represents 0010, ..., E represents 1110, and F represents 1111. We could also say that in the base ten, the hexadecimal digit A stands for the number 10 (ten), B stands for 11 (eleven), C stands for 12, D for 13, E for 14, and F for 15. A 32-bit binary number can be expressed as an 8-digit hexadecimal number.
- Real Number
- Real numbers are numbers that can contain decimal points, like 3.14159 or -234.5, or 12.0. They can also be written using "scientific notation." For example, 2.15e12 is a way of writing 2.15 times 1012. The representation used in computers for real numbers is very complicated. And it allows some strange possibilities, such as INF and -INF, which stand for infinity and minus infinity. There are also NAN's. NAN stands for "not a number." NAN's are used to represent the results of illegal operations such as taking a square root of a negative number. Note that the integer 17 and the real number 17 have completely different representations in the computer, even though they are the same number mathematically. I will not describe the representation of real numbers in detail.
- ASCII Text
- Characters can be encoded using ASCII code. Each possible character is assigned a code that is one byte (that is, eight bits) long. With 32 bits, you can represents 4 characters in ASCII code. Not every possible byte represents an ordinary, printable character. The applet shows other bytes in the form <#n>, where n is the base-ten number corresponding to the byte. For example, the byte 00000111, which is equivalent to 7 in base ten, is shown as <#7>.
- Pixels
- At the center of the applet, you will see an 8-by-4 grid of little squares. Each of these thirty-two squares corresponds to one byte in the binary number. You should think of these squares as being very big pixels. Each pixel can be either black or white. One bit specifies the color of one pixel -- 0 for white or 1 for black. This is how two-color graphical images can be represented by binary numbers. Again, see Section 1.1 of the text. In the applet, you can change the color of a pixel by clicking on it.
David Eck (eck@hws.edu), June 1997