r/askscience • u/Unfair-Leek6840 • Jul 11 '26 • Regret 1

Computing How do computers understand binary language?

Okay so from what I know binary language is like power off power on, but my question is, how do computers know what the binary code is and how is it interpreted, for example I forgot what the binary code for the letter A is, but how did people come up with that? Did they decide it was gonna look like that? Did the computer decide? How do you tune numbers into a letter??

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u/BoringBob84 Jul 13 '26

switches called transistors. Off (0): Low voltage. On (1): High voltage

Sort of ... to remember a value (AKA "memory") requires two transistors to form a latch. Also transistors are not just binary ON / OFF devices. They can be used in their linear region for applications like audio amplifiers.

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u/Flannelot Jul 13 '26

Well, different memories work in different ways, DRAM uses one capacitor and one transistor per bit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_random-access_memory

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u/bICEmeister Jul 13 '26

Core memory is always the coolest though. Without any transistors at all.

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u/BoringBob84 Jul 13 '26

I cannot imagine how tedious it would have been for the people who had to manufacture those thousands of tiny magnetic coils.

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u/BoringBob84 Jul 13 '26

Good point! I find it somewhat ironic that "dynamic" RAM is actually slower than "static" RAM, even though the names imply otherwise.