
"There are 10 types of people in the world, those who can read binary and those who can't."
Binary Codes Unit - Table of Contents
Binary Numbers aka 01000010 01101001 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001 00100000 01001110 01110101 01101101 01100010 01100101 01110010 01110011
Binary
is a number system with base 2.
Only
two digits (1 & 0) are used to write every number.
This
is the foundation of almost every computer program.
Computers
are not as smart as you think, in fact, they only know 2 things…
0
and 1
Everything else is told to the
computer by a human, this is called programming.
For
a computer:
0
means turn a circuit off
1
means turn a circuit on
Numbers are usually grouped in chunks of 8 (8 bits).
8 bits can handle any number up to 255.
If you need a number larger than that, just add a column to the left.
The next column would be 256, then 512, and so on.
Binary
code is not just about numbers. Every number, letter
and symbol on your keyboard needs to be converted into binary so the computer can
understand it.
We
can see all these conversions in something called an ASCII table.
Every time you type a letter on your keyboard, the computer understands
is as loads of 0s
and 1s
Activity:
- Open "Notebook"
- Write a simple sentence
- Save it as "Sentence.txt"
- Right click on the saved file and view "Properties"
- How many saved bytes is the file size?
The number of bytes should match the total number of characters (including spaces and periods)
Binary Games aka 01000010 01101001 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001 00100000 01000111 01100001 01101101 01100101 01110011
Binary Videos aka 01010110 01101001 01100100 01100101 01101111 01110011
Time to Get to Work!
Computer screens are divided up into a grid of small dots called pixels (picture elements).
In a black and white picture, each pixel is either black or white.
The letter “a” has been magnified to show the pixels. When a computer stores a picture,
all that it needs to know is which dots are black and which are white.
The picture below shows us how a picture can be represented by numbers.
Colours are encoded to Binary using RGB (Red, Green, and Blue)
Over 16 millions colours can be created by blending these three. (see Color Picker for more combinations)
Hint: you will be using 8-bit binary numbers (ex. 00000010 = 2)
Hint: You can copy & paste this code into Pixelation to use as an example to help you get started.
* Note: This will not work in Internet Explorer - use Google Chrome or Firefox *
Sample Flower Code
EXAMPLE: Flower
0001001000010110000000000000000000000000001100000000000000010010000000000000010010000000000001101101100000000010010010010000000010010010010000000001101101100000000000010010000000000000010010000000000000001100000000000000001000000000000000001000000000000000001000000000000000001000000000000000001000000000000000111111000000000000011110000000000000011110000000000000011110000000000000000000000000
Assignment 5
Read the following articles
Answer these questions. Point form is fine.
* Download a copy of the questions in MS Word format. *
Binary Audio Article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/z7vc7ty/revision/1
- Microphones
translate ________________ into electrical signals.
- Analog
to digital converters transfer electrical voltage to _____ of information.
- The
_______ ________ is the number of audio samples captured every
second.
- What
is needed for higher quality sound?
- Before
being encoded into Binary, the amplitude is stored as a __________ or a
___________.
- 44,100
samples per second is the same as _______________
- What
is the sound quality of VOIP (voice over IP, i.e Skype) ?
- What
is the bit depth on a CD compared to a DVD?
- What
is the difference in possible values between 16 and 24 bit depth?
- Bit
Rates are usually measured in ______________.
- How
does the compression range of MP3's compare to uncompressed files?
- What
does Lossless compression mean?
- What
are the two types of open source lossless compression?
- Is
an MP3 an example of lossless compression format?
- Describe
the two main differences between Lossy and Lossless compression.
- What
is the name of the open source codec for lossy compression?
- What
is the necessary network speeds required to play HD and SD video?
Binary Video Article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/z7vc7ty/revision/6
- What
is the encoding term used for digital video? (hint: audio uses 'sample
rate')
- What
is the standard frame rate for digital films?
- How
many frames is the typical HD film per second?
- What
is the measurement for monitors and screens to indicate how many frames
they can display per second?
- Random
coloured blocks that appear in low quality video are known as _______.
- Video
files use ____________ to run compression algorithms.
- Why
does app developer Ivo Jansch say that we need compression for video?
- What
is RLE and how does compression software work?
Complete this test on
the subject material: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/z7vc7ty/test

For Further Discussion
So if a binary number is usually composed of 8 bits, how does that relate to our 32 and 64 bit computers?
Read & Discuss: 32bit vs 64 bit
Decrypt this binary message