1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:15,880 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:19,160 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio and how the tech 4 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:23,320 Speaker 1: are you? So? Last week I did an episode about 5 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 1: CPU architecture, and I talked about buses, which in this 6 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:29,920 Speaker 1: case are not vehicles meant to transport a group of 7 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 1: folks from one place to a destination. Instead, we're talking 8 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:37,400 Speaker 1: about connections that allow data to pass through them. That 9 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:40,120 Speaker 1: could be raw data or it could be instructions for 10 00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:43,559 Speaker 1: a processor to perform on some raw data. And I 11 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 1: mentioned that I would follow up with an episode explaining 12 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:50,159 Speaker 1: things like eight bit and sixteen bit machines all the 13 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 1: way up to sixty four bit systems and processors. So 14 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: let's get to it. And first of all, a bit. 15 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:00,120 Speaker 1: Y'all probably know this. I'm pretty sure about that. But 16 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:03,400 Speaker 1: a bit is a single unit of digital information and 17 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:07,200 Speaker 1: it can have one of two values or states. It 18 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:10,480 Speaker 1: can either be zero or it can be a one. 19 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:13,399 Speaker 1: And I always think of a simple light switch, like 20 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:15,800 Speaker 1: a light switch. A very simple light switch can either 21 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:18,400 Speaker 1: be off or it can be on. But that's it. 22 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:21,080 Speaker 1: Those are the only two options. So when we say 23 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:25,120 Speaker 1: something is an eight bit machine, you'll likely into it 24 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:30,040 Speaker 1: that this has some relationship with eight bits, like eight 25 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:33,960 Speaker 1: units of this basic digital information, and you would be right. 26 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:36,600 Speaker 1: When we talk about a device or a program in 27 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:39,480 Speaker 1: terms of bit numbers like this, we're talking about the 28 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:42,480 Speaker 1: capability of the machine in question. So the more bits, 29 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:45,759 Speaker 1: the more capable the machine is at handling larger units 30 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: of data at once, essentially in a single cycle, which 31 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: we'll get to. So let's talk about those eight bits 32 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: for a second. First, with eight bits, you have two 33 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:01,279 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty six variations possible. So remember a single 34 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:04,279 Speaker 1: bit has two potential states, a zero or a one, 35 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 1: So that's it. It's it's two to the power of 36 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:10,400 Speaker 1: one because you have one bit with two potential states. 37 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:16,160 Speaker 1: With eight bits, you have two potential states, but eight 38 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 1: different bits to it, so it's two to the power 39 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:22,519 Speaker 1: of eight values. That's two hundred and fifty six variations, 40 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 1: and that goes from zero zero zero, zero, zero zero 41 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:31,399 Speaker 1: zero zero to one one one one one one one one, 42 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:36,120 Speaker 1: and then everything in between. So an eight bit system 43 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 1: has a processor, memory, buses, et cetera that can handle 44 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 1: values of up to eight bits of data. So an 45 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 1: eight bit CPU can transfer eight bits of data per 46 00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 1: clock cycle. Now I did mention we were going to 47 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: circle back on what a clock cycle is. So a 48 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:57,120 Speaker 1: CPU's clock is a bit of the CPU that has 49 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:02,960 Speaker 1: an oscillating element, and that oscillation a single oscillation, is 50 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:06,520 Speaker 1: a full oscillation is a clock cycle, and that's how 51 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 1: many cycles you have in a second. That tells you 52 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:12,720 Speaker 1: your clock speed. So if you have an eight bit 53 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:16,400 Speaker 1: system that was running at one megahertz, then that would 54 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:18,679 Speaker 1: mean you would have a system that's running at a 55 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 1: million cycles per second. Mega hurtz would mean that you 56 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:26,840 Speaker 1: have a million oscillations per second, and that would mean 57 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:29,560 Speaker 1: that for every second that passes, this processor could transfer 58 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 1: eight million bits of data in eight bit chunks, and 59 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 1: that would be the limitation of this particular system. Let's 60 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:40,400 Speaker 1: say then we were to step up to a sixteen 61 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: bit system. Now we're talking about a processor that can 62 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 1: handle up to sixteen bits of data at any given moment. 63 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:49,200 Speaker 1: And while eight bits can represent up to two hundred 64 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:52,240 Speaker 1: and fifty six variations or values or states, if you 65 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:56,800 Speaker 1: prefer sixteen bits ups the game to sixty five thousand, 66 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 1: five hundred and thirty six values or to the sixteenth power. 67 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:05,120 Speaker 1: So this is a big jump, right. A sixteen bit 68 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 1: system can allow for much larger values than an eight 69 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 1: bit system. It can handle more data in a given 70 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:14,440 Speaker 1: amount of cycles. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that a 71 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:18,520 Speaker 1: sixteen bit system has a faster clock speed, although it 72 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:22,480 Speaker 1: probably would. And this is where thinking about physical buses, 73 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:24,480 Speaker 1: like the kind you would get on to go to 74 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:27,480 Speaker 1: work or to school or whatever, it actually becomes a 75 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:30,720 Speaker 1: little bit useful because we can kind of use an analogy. 76 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:33,120 Speaker 1: It's an analogy that has limitations, but we can kind 77 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:36,640 Speaker 1: of think of it. So let's say we've got two buses. 78 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: One bus can hold just eight people, including the driver. 79 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:44,320 Speaker 1: The other bus can hold sixteen people including the driver. 80 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:47,920 Speaker 1: Now both buses travel the same route, and both buses 81 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: have the same top speed. So Bus A, which holds 82 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:54,680 Speaker 1: eight people, gets to its destination in two hours. Let's 83 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:59,239 Speaker 1: say Bus B can hold sixteen people, but will also 84 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:02,120 Speaker 1: take two hours to get to its destination. So, in 85 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:05,200 Speaker 1: other words, both buses required the same amount of time 86 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:08,760 Speaker 1: to travel from start to finish, but Bus B was 87 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:11,240 Speaker 1: able to carry twice as many people. Well, if we 88 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:15,119 Speaker 1: think of computer systems and computer buses, in a similar way. 89 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:19,719 Speaker 1: That kind of starts to illustrate what these different systems 90 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:21,840 Speaker 1: are capable of. However, we do have to say we're 91 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:24,520 Speaker 1: not talking about twice as many people when we go 92 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:27,320 Speaker 1: from eight bit to sixteen bit. The analogy doesn't totally 93 00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 1: work because the number of people and the bit size 94 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:33,680 Speaker 1: of information isn't really analogous. It just lets us separate 95 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:38,040 Speaker 1: the thought of capacity from speed, because these are related 96 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:41,560 Speaker 1: but different. So as we step up from eight bit 97 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:43,720 Speaker 1: to sixteen bit, we see that the system is able 98 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:47,719 Speaker 1: to transfer way more information within a single clock cycle, 99 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:52,119 Speaker 1: and you might think that as capacity because the clock 100 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:56,560 Speaker 1: cycles are really the speed and the bit is the capacity. Here. 101 00:05:56,960 --> 00:05:59,600 Speaker 1: So if somehow you had an eight bit system that 102 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,320 Speaker 1: could run the gigahertz and you had a sixteen bit 103 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:05,679 Speaker 1: system that ran at a megahertz, well, yes, the sixteen 104 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 1: bit is handling more information per clock cycle, but the 105 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:11,599 Speaker 1: eight bit system has way way way more clock cycles 106 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:16,240 Speaker 1: than the sixteen bit system does. So again, related but 107 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:19,560 Speaker 1: not the same. So a sixteen bit system could handle 108 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:22,960 Speaker 1: binary numbers up to sixteen bits long. So therefore it 109 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:25,440 Speaker 1: stands to reason that when we start getting to a 110 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:29,159 Speaker 1: thirty two bit processor, you're talking about. It's handling values 111 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:31,159 Speaker 1: that are up to thirty two bits long, and a 112 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: sixty four bit processor then handles values up to sixty 113 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: four bits long or digits versus that are up to 114 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:40,839 Speaker 1: sixty four bits long. And when we get up to 115 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:44,280 Speaker 1: that capacity, the numbers start looking real meaningless because they 116 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:48,880 Speaker 1: get so big so fast. So remember sixteen bits, we're 117 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:54,720 Speaker 1: talking about, you know, sixty five, five hundred and thirty 118 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:58,359 Speaker 1: six values. As I recall, if we're talking about thirty 119 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: two bits, that jumps way up to Oh, I don't know, 120 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: what is it, like four billion, two hundred ninety four million, 121 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:10,160 Speaker 1: nine hundred and sixty seven two hundred and ninety six variations. 122 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:13,600 Speaker 1: I believe, so two to the thirty second power. Yeah, 123 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:17,840 Speaker 1: that's a lot, Like suddenly we've gone super huge. But 124 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:21,800 Speaker 1: just wait, because once we get to the sixty four 125 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:24,280 Speaker 1: bit system, forget about it. That's two to the sixty 126 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:28,320 Speaker 1: fourth power, and the number of values that you can 127 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:32,640 Speaker 1: have or represent with sixty four bits worth of information, 128 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:36,240 Speaker 1: I can't even really give you the number there, we're 129 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:41,160 Speaker 1: talking about like eighteen quintillion variations. You really need to 130 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:44,360 Speaker 1: go with scientific notation at that point in order to 131 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:46,840 Speaker 1: really handle stuff. So you're talking about like one point 132 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:49,800 Speaker 1: eight four times ten to the nineteenth power on that one, 133 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:53,640 Speaker 1: and obviously that's an approximation, not specific, but yeah, at 134 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:56,360 Speaker 1: the end of the day, the bit designation tells us 135 00:07:56,400 --> 00:08:00,280 Speaker 1: the size of data that a processor can transfer per 136 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:03,960 Speaker 1: clock cycle, how much information it can handle as it's 137 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:09,240 Speaker 1: performing these operations. So again that combined with the clock 138 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: cycle speed, tells you how much information this processor can 139 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: handle at once and how fast it appears to us. Now, 140 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:21,800 Speaker 1: making this more complicated is the software side of things. 141 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:26,720 Speaker 1: It probably seems obvious that a sixteen bit machine cannot 142 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 1: run sixty four bit code. I'm not going to get 143 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:33,360 Speaker 1: into virtual machines here, but those do complicate things even more, 144 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: and without an emulator, a sixty four bit machine can't 145 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:41,440 Speaker 1: necessarily run thirty two bitcode. That being said, Windows machines 146 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:45,200 Speaker 1: have an emulator called Wow sixty four. This allows a 147 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:48,640 Speaker 1: sixty four bit Windows device to run thirty two bit 148 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:52,480 Speaker 1: Windows based programs on it. So most Windows users won't 149 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:54,880 Speaker 1: have really many issues if they happen to have a 150 00:08:54,920 --> 00:09:00,439 Speaker 1: sixty four bit machine and Windows operating system still want 151 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:03,480 Speaker 1: to run thirty two bits software. But yes, that's a 152 00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:06,840 Speaker 1: quick rundown on what those mean. So when you hear 153 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:09,560 Speaker 1: about like the original Nintendo being an eight bit system 154 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:12,680 Speaker 1: and then later systems being sixteen or thirty two bit systems, 155 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:16,559 Speaker 1: it really tells you about the capacity for those machines 156 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:19,680 Speaker 1: to handle larger amounts of information, which we typically experience 157 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:26,200 Speaker 1: either as faster processing or more sophisticated programs running on 158 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:29,199 Speaker 1: the machine. But I wanted to get down to the 159 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:32,680 Speaker 1: nitty gritty of what's happening in the bottom level to 160 00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:36,640 Speaker 1: really understand that. Okay, that's it for this super short 161 00:09:36,679 --> 00:09:40,080 Speaker 1: Tedbits episode. I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll have 162 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:42,680 Speaker 1: another new episode for you tomorrow, a slightly longer one, 163 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:46,120 Speaker 1: and until then, I'll talk to you again really soon. 164 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:57,080 Speaker 1: Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 165 00:09:57,400 --> 00:10:01,160 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts, wherever you listen to 166 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:02,200 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.