2-1 Data Storage: A Bit About the Bit

INTERNET BKIDGE A computer can have seemingly limitless capabilities. It's an entertainment center with hundreds of interactive games. It's a virtual school or university providing interactive instruction and testing in everything from anthropology to zoology. It's a painter's canvas. It's a video telephone. It's a CD player. It's a home or office library giving ready access to the complete works of Shakespeare or interactive versions of corporate procedures manuals. It's a television. It's the biggest marketplace in the world. It's a medical instrument capable of monitoring vital signs. It's the family photo album. It's a print shop. It's a wind tunnel that can test experimental airplane designs. It's a voting booth. It's a calendar with a to-do list. It's a recorder. It's an alarm clock that can remind you to pick up the kids. It's an encyclopedia. It can perform thousands of specialty functions that require specialized skills: preparing taxes, drafting legal documents, counseling suicidal patients, and much more.
In all of these applications, the computer deals with everything as electronic signals. Electronic signals come in two flavors—analog and digital. Analog signals are continuous wave forms in which variations in frequency and amplitude can be used to represent information from sound and numerical data. The sound of our voice is carried by analog signals when we talk on the telephone. With digital signals, everything is described in two states: the circuit as either on or off. Generally, the on state is expressed or represented by the number 1 and the off state by the number 0. Computers are digital and, therefore, require digital data. To make the most effective use of computers and automation, most everything in the world of electronics and communication is going digital