Languages of Computing Alan Blackwell CU Computer Laboratory

Part 1 Languages for storing data

Binary digits (bits) =1 =0

Bits = 0100100

Bytes 01000001 01101100001 01101110 00100000 01000010

Encoding text 01000001 = “A” 01101100 = “l” 01100001 = “a” 01101110 = “n” 00100000 = “ ” 01000010 = “B” etc …

RAM chip

RAM chip (kilobytes (kb) = 1000’s of bytes)

RAM circuit board (c. a. 1980)

Magnetic drum storage

Magnetic tape storage

IBM mainframe

Cassette tape

Apple II

BBC Micro

5. 25 inch floppy disk (200 kb)

IBM PC

3. 5 inch floppy disk

Floppy disk drive 1. 4 megabytes = 1. 4 million bytes = 1, 400, 000 bytes = 1, 400 kilobytes

Hard disk drive

Hard disk drive (gigabytes)

Hard disk drive (gigabytes) 400 gigabytes = 400 billion bytes = 400, 000, 000 bytes = 400, 000 kilobytes = 400, 000 megabytes

External hard drive (terabytes)

External hard drive (terabytes) 1 terabyte = 1 trillion bytes = 1, 000, 000 kilobytes = 1, 000 megabytes = 1, 000 gigabytes

CD-ROM (megabytes)

DVD-ROM (4 gigabytes)

Flash card

SIM card (kilobytes)

USB flash drive (8 gigabytes)

Geek speak checklist ¢ ¢ ¢ bit, byte, RAM kilobyte (k. B) megabyte (MB) gigabyte (GB) terabyte (TB) ASCII = 1, 000 bytes = 1, 000, 000 bytes

Part 2 Types of data language

Plain text

Numbers 0 = 0000 1 = 00000001 2 = 00000010 3 = 00000010 … 254 = 11111110 255 = 1111

Numbers

Encoding colour 11001000 (= 200 Red) 01100100 (= 100 Green) 11001000 (= 200 Blue) 11001000 011001000

Picture elements (pixels) 900 pixels (30 x 30)

Compression 36, 000 pixels (180 x 200) JPEG level 12 (high quality) File size: 40 k. B 36, 000 pixels (180 x 200) JPEG level 0 (low quality) File size: 14 k. B

Resolution A 10 k. Pixel camera (100 x 100 greyscale)

Encoding sound 0 | 237 | 10 | 56 | 235 | 12 | 3 | 45 | … . WAV[e] file or (compressed) MP 3

Encoding programs 10100000 01000010 11101001000 = MOV AX, 0 x 0082 E 984 H or, “get the data at memory address 4385096” (in the particular language of Intel microprocessors)