Geek Author

Computers don't cope well with infinite, but that's pretty much what the real world is about, limitless accuracy with as near to limitless boundaries as can be imagined. So how do we fit infinite inside the computer? That's what this episode is about: converting analog measurements to binary with suitable accuracy. And we will do all of this with an eye to using these techniques later in our applications.

Ask a computer to store a decimal whole number in binary and it will do it without any fuss. A decimal fraction, however, that's another thing. In this episode, we will present a method called Packed Binary Coded Decimal, or BCD, that is used to represent decimal values in binary by storing each digit in its own nibble.

Binary can be challenging. The values tend to have a lot of digits, long sequences of ones or zeros can be difficult to distinguish, and the relative magnitudes of multiple binary values can be difficult to resolve. In this episode, we discuss a couple of the popular methods to quickly represent binary in a more human readable form.

This episode continues the work of the previous one by examining the methods used to convert between decimal and binary and vice versa. We also take a look at the effects of shifting the bits of a binary number both left and right and how those operations can be used to simulate multiplication and division. Oh, and since we will be discussing a lot of numbers, it couldn't hurt to have a piece of paper and a pencil close by.

In this episode, we visit some ancient Sumerians so we can expand our view of finger counting and see how this applies to counting with transistors. From this, we will have the basis for unsigned binary integers and the humble binary digit or bit. We also show how to calculate the upper limit to which a fixed number of transistors can count.

In this episode, we show how a binary signal can be used to give the appearance of an analog output. We then use this understanding to show how to dim an LED on the Arduino open source platform.

In this episode, we define the components of a single binary signal as its value changes over time. This will provide us with a starting point for the terminology we will be using throughout the rest of the series.

In this episode, we make the distinction between analog (real-world) values and the values that a computer uses, in other words, digital. We discuss the benefits of digital over analog and describe a simple system to capture analog values.

In this episode, we discuss the importance of hardware design to anyone interested in creating computing solutions.

This episode provides a brief introduction to the Geek Author series, Computer Organization and Design Fundamentals, and to it's host, David Tarnoff.