WEBVTT - TechStuff Tidbits: A Bit about Bits 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:12.520 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:15.880 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:19.160 I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio and how the tech 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:23.320 are you? So? Last week I did an episode about 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:26.960 CPU architecture, and I talked about buses, which in this 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:29.920 case are not vehicles meant to transport a group of 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:34.040 folks from one place to a destination. Instead, we're talking 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:37.400 about connections that allow data to pass through them. That 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:40.120 could be raw data or it could be instructions for 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:43.559 a processor to perform on some raw data. And I 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:46.720 mentioned that I would follow up with an episode explaining 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:50.159 things like eight bit and sixteen bit machines all the 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:53.440 way up to sixty four bit systems and processors. So 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:56.440 let's get to it. And first of all, a bit. 0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:00.120 Y'all probably know this. I'm pretty sure about that. But 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:03.400 a bit is a single unit of digital information and 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:07.200 it can have one of two values or states. It 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:10.480 can either be zero or it can be a one. 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:13.399 And I always think of a simple light switch, like 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:15.800 a light switch. A very simple light switch can either 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:18.400 be off or it can be on. But that's it. 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:21.080 Those are the only two options. So when we say 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:25.120 something is an eight bit machine, you'll likely into it 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:30.040 that this has some relationship with eight bits, like eight 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:33.960 units of this basic digital information, and you would be right. 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:36.600 When we talk about a device or a program in 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:39.480 terms of bit numbers like this, we're talking about the 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:42.480 capability of the machine in question. So the more bits, 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:45.759 the more capable the machine is at handling larger units 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:50.320 of data at once, essentially in a single cycle, which 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:53.240 we'll get to. So let's talk about those eight bits 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:57.240 for a second. First, with eight bits, you have two 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:01.279 hundred and fifty six variations possible. So remember a single 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:04.279 bit has two potential states, a zero or a one, 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:07.160 So that's it. It's it's two to the power of 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:10.400 one because you have one bit with two potential states. 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:16.160 With eight bits, you have two potential states, but eight 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:18.720 different bits to it, so it's two to the power 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:22.519 of eight values. That's two hundred and fifty six variations, 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:26.320 and that goes from zero zero zero, zero, zero zero 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:31.399 zero zero to one one one one one one one one, 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:36.120 and then everything in between. So an eight bit system 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:39.440 has a processor, memory, buses, et cetera that can handle 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:42.480 values of up to eight bits of data. So an 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:45.320 eight bit CPU can transfer eight bits of data per 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:48.720 clock cycle. Now I did mention we were going to 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:51.720 circle back on what a clock cycle is. So a 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:57.120 CPU's clock is a bit of the CPU that has 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:02.960 an oscillating element, and that oscillation a single oscillation, is 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:06.520 a full oscillation is a clock cycle, and that's how 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:08.960 many cycles you have in a second. That tells you 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:12.720 your clock speed. So if you have an eight bit 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:16.400 system that was running at one megahertz, then that would 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:18.679 mean you would have a system that's running at a 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:21.840 million cycles per second. Mega hurtz would mean that you 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:26.840 have a million oscillations per second, and that would mean 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:29.560 that for every second that passes, this processor could transfer 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:33.240 eight million bits of data in eight bit chunks, and 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:37.880 that would be the limitation of this particular system. Let's 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:40.400 say then we were to step up to a sixteen 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:43.560 bit system. Now we're talking about a processor that can 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:46.600 handle up to sixteen bits of data at any given moment. 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:49.200 And while eight bits can represent up to two hundred 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:52.240 and fifty six variations or values or states, if you 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:56.800 prefer sixteen bits ups the game to sixty five thousand, 0:03:57.120 --> 0:04:01.880 five hundred and thirty six values or to the sixteenth power. 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:05.120 So this is a big jump, right. A sixteen bit 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:08.040 system can allow for much larger values than an eight 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:10.560 bit system. It can handle more data in a given 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:14.440 amount of cycles. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that a 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:18.520 sixteen bit system has a faster clock speed, although it 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:22.480 probably would. And this is where thinking about physical buses, 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:24.480 like the kind you would get on to go to 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:27.480 work or to school or whatever, it actually becomes a 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:30.720 little bit useful because we can kind of use an analogy. 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:33.120 It's an analogy that has limitations, but we can kind 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:36.640 of think of it. So let's say we've got two buses. 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:40.760 One bus can hold just eight people, including the driver. 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:44.320 The other bus can hold sixteen people including the driver. 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:47.920 Now both buses travel the same route, and both buses 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:51.400 have the same top speed. So Bus A, which holds 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:54.680 eight people, gets to its destination in two hours. Let's 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:59.239 say Bus B can hold sixteen people, but will also 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:02.120 take two hours to get to its destination. So, in 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:05.200 other words, both buses required the same amount of time 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:08.760 to travel from start to finish, but Bus B was 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:11.240 able to carry twice as many people. Well, if we 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:15.119 think of computer systems and computer buses, in a similar way. 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:19.719 That kind of starts to illustrate what these different systems 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:21.840 are capable of. However, we do have to say we're 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:24.520 not talking about twice as many people when we go 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:27.320 from eight bit to sixteen bit. The analogy doesn't totally 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:29.400 work because the number of people and the bit size 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:33.680 of information isn't really analogous. It just lets us separate 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:38.040 the thought of capacity from speed, because these are related 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:41.560 but different. So as we step up from eight bit 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:43.720 to sixteen bit, we see that the system is able 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:47.719 to transfer way more information within a single clock cycle, 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:52.119 and you might think that as capacity because the clock 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:56.560 cycles are really the speed and the bit is the capacity. Here. 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:59.600 So if somehow you had an eight bit system that 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:02.320 could run the gigahertz and you had a sixteen bit 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:05.679 system that ran at a megahertz, well, yes, the sixteen 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:08.640 bit is handling more information per clock cycle, but the 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:11.599 eight bit system has way way way more clock cycles 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:16.240 than the sixteen bit system does. So again, related but 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.560 not the same. So a sixteen bit system could handle 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:22.960 binary numbers up to sixteen bits long. So therefore it 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:25.440 stands to reason that when we start getting to a 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:29.159 thirty two bit processor, you're talking about. It's handling values 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:31.159 that are up to thirty two bits long, and a 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:35.200 sixty four bit processor then handles values up to sixty 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:37.960 four bits long or digits versus that are up to 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:40.839 sixty four bits long. And when we get up to 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:44.280 that capacity, the numbers start looking real meaningless because they 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:48.880 get so big so fast. So remember sixteen bits, we're 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:54.720 talking about, you know, sixty five, five hundred and thirty 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:58.359 six values. As I recall, if we're talking about thirty 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:01.440 two bits, that jumps way up to Oh, I don't know, 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:06.440 what is it, like four billion, two hundred ninety four million, 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:10.160 nine hundred and sixty seven two hundred and ninety six variations. 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:13.600 I believe, so two to the thirty second power. Yeah, 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:17.840 that's a lot, Like suddenly we've gone super huge. But 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:21.800 just wait, because once we get to the sixty four 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:24.280 bit system, forget about it. That's two to the sixty 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:28.320 fourth power, and the number of values that you can 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:32.640 have or represent with sixty four bits worth of information, 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:36.240 I can't even really give you the number there, we're 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:41.160 talking about like eighteen quintillion variations. You really need to 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:44.360 go with scientific notation at that point in order to 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:46.840 really handle stuff. So you're talking about like one point 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:49.800 eight four times ten to the nineteenth power on that one, 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:53.640 and obviously that's an approximation, not specific, but yeah, at 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:56.360 the end of the day, the bit designation tells us 0:07:56.400 --> 0:08:00.280 the size of data that a processor can transfer per 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:03.960 clock cycle, how much information it can handle as it's 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:09.240 performing these operations. So again that combined with the clock 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:14.120 cycle speed, tells you how much information this processor can 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:18.760 handle at once and how fast it appears to us. Now, 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.800 making this more complicated is the software side of things. 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:26.720 It probably seems obvious that a sixteen bit machine cannot 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:29.960 run sixty four bit code. I'm not going to get 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:33.360 into virtual machines here, but those do complicate things even more, 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:37.480 and without an emulator, a sixty four bit machine can't 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:41.440 necessarily run thirty two bitcode. That being said, Windows machines 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:45.200 have an emulator called Wow sixty four. This allows a 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:48.640 sixty four bit Windows device to run thirty two bit 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:52.480 Windows based programs on it. So most Windows users won't 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:54.880 have really many issues if they happen to have a 0:08:54.920 --> 0:09:00.439 sixty four bit machine and Windows operating system still want 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:03.480 to run thirty two bits software. But yes, that's a 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:06.840 quick rundown on what those mean. So when you hear 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:09.560 about like the original Nintendo being an eight bit system 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:12.680 and then later systems being sixteen or thirty two bit systems, 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:16.559 it really tells you about the capacity for those machines 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:19.680 to handle larger amounts of information, which we typically experience 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:26.200 either as faster processing or more sophisticated programs running on 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:29.199 the machine. But I wanted to get down to the 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:32.680 nitty gritty of what's happening in the bottom level to 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:36.640 really understand that. Okay, that's it for this super short 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:40.080 Tedbits episode. I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll have 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:42.680 another new episode for you tomorrow, a slightly longer one, 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:46.120 and until then, I'll talk to you again really soon. 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:57.080 Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:01.160 visit the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts, wherever you listen to 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:02.200 your favorite shows.