Bits, bytes, words, word length concept

Source: Internet
Author: User

I found the relevant concepts in the principle of computer composition, and searched the Internet


First, in the performance test, any out of the underlying content, for performance testing, is incomplete, any program, what middleware if there is no operating system and computer support, is meaningless, because in the computer world, there are some concepts need we can grasp and understand, such as: bit, word, length

First of all,

bit:

A bit represents a bits, commonly called a bit, is the smallest unit of computer storage, similar to the concept of (two, kilogram, gram), such as: 11010100 is a 8-bit binary number. A bits can only represent 0 and 12 states (21); Two bits can represent 00, 01, 10, 114 (22) states; a three-digit binary number can represent eight states (23)

   byte (byte)

bytes from English byte, transliteration as "special", used to use uppercase "B" to express.

Bytes are the basic unit of data processing in a computer. The computer stores and interprets information in bytes, which specifies that a byte consists of eight bits, or 1 bytes equals 8 bits (1byte=8bit). Eight-bit binary number minimum is 00000000, the maximum is 11111111; usually 1 bytes can be stored in an ASCII code, 2 bytes can hold a Chinese character GB code.

  Word

When a computer is processing data, the length of time it accesses, processes, and transmits is called word. A word is usually made up of one or more bytes (usually the integer bits of bytes). For example, the word 286 microcomputer consists of 2 bytes, its word length is 16;486 microcomputer's words are composed of 4 bytes, it is 32-bit in length.

The word length of a computer determines the actual number of bits that the CPU handles at a time, thus the larger the length of the computer, the better its performance.


  Word length

The number of bits that each word of the computer contains is referred to as the length. Depending on the computer, there are two types of word length that are fixed and variable. Fixed word length, that is, no matter what the case is fixed constant, variable length, in a certain range, its size is variable.

The calculated word length refers to the number of binary digits that it can handle at a time. The rate at which a computer processes data is naturally related to the number of bits it can process at a time and the speed of its operation. If the word length of a computer is twice times that of another computer, even if the speed of the two computers is the same, the former can do twice times the latter in the same period of time.

Generally, the word length of the mainframe computer is 32―64 bit, the small machine is the 12―32 bit, and the microcomputer is 4,116 bits. Word length is an important factor in measuring the performance of a computer.


 bytes

Byte refers to a small group of contiguous binary digital. is usually 8 bits as a byte. It is a small unit of information, and as a whole to participate in operations, smaller than words, is the unit of the constituent words.

In a microcomputer, how many bytes are usually used to represent the storage capacity of the memory.


  Word block

In information processing, a group of words is treated as a unit called a "block of words." Also known as "Word Group". For example, a group of characters stored on a track of a drum is called a block of characters. Every 120 characters on a tape is usually spaced by a block of letters, also known as a block of characters. The spacing between blocks and blocks is generally 1.27―2.54 cm (1/211 inches). In bulk storage, information is stored in chunks, so only chunks are available for selection. At present, the concept of "character block" is also introduced in the high-speed Sui Chong technology.



Description of the word in the operating system:

Word

In a computer, a string of digital as a whole to deal with or to operate, called a computer word, short-yu. The word is usually divided into several bytes (each byte is typically 8 bits). In memory, it is common for each cell to store one word, so each word is addressable. The length of the word is represented by the number of digits.

In computer operators, controllers, usually in the word is transmitted in units. Yu appears at different addresses whose meanings are not the same. For example, the word sent to the controller is an instruction, and the word sent to the operator is a number.

The binary number string that is accessed, transmitted, and processed as a whole in a computer is called a word or unit, and the length of the number of bits in each word is called words. A word consists of a number of bytes, different computer systems, the length is different, the common 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, 64-bit, and so on, the longer the length of the computer, the more information bits, the higher the accuracy, the word length is an important indicator of computer performance. At present, the mainstream microcomputer is 32-bit machine.

Note the difference between words and word length, words are units, while word length is the indicator, the indicator needs to be measured in units. Just like the weight of life in relation to the kilogram, the kilogram is the unit, the weight is the indicator, the weight needs to be measured by the kilogram.

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