Re: Could someone explain:
quote:
What I would like to know is, in my ignorance of computer programming, are if an 8-bit number is too small, is 16-bit our next option? Is not there some number in between we could use? If not I am sure he could use a 16-bit number, and then hard code some logical limit to the number of systems, say 1000 or somethhing like that that would keep the mem usage to a reasonable level.
Since computers "think" in binary arithmetic, at the bit level everything is done in powers of 2. That's why a "kilobyte" is 1024 bytes rather than 1000, and a "megabyte" is 1048576 bytes (1024^2) rather than 1000000. I suppose in theory you could design hardware that used some intermediate value, but I don't know of any real-world examples where it's been done.
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Cap'n Q
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Cap'n Q
"Good morning, Pooh Bear," said Eeyore gloomily. "If it is a good morning," he said. "Which I doubt," said he.
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