Chapter one-Digital Logic Circuits

Digital Computers

The digital computer is a digital system that performs various computational tasks. The word digital implies that the information in the computer is represented by variables that take a limited number of discrete values . These values are processed internally by components that can maintain a limited number of discrete states. The decimal digits0,1,2,...,9 ,for example provide 10 discrete values. The first electronic digital computers, developed in the late 1940's ,were used primarily for numerical computations. In this case, the discrete elements are the digits. From this application the term digital computer has emerged.
In practice,digital computers function more reliably if only two states are used. Because of the physical restriction of the components, and because human logic tends to be binary(i.e true or false, yes or no statements), digital components that are constrained to take discrete values are further constrained to take only two values and are said to be binary.
Digital computers use the binary number system , which has two digits: 0 and 1. A binary digit is called a bit. Information is represented in digital computers in groups of bits. By using various coding techniques, groups of bits can be used to represent not only binary numbers but also other discrete symbols, such as decimal digits of letters of the alphabet. By judicious use ofbinary arrangements and by using various coding techniques, the groups of bits are used to develop complete sets of instructions for performing various types of computations.

In contrast to the common decimal numbers that employ the base 10 system, binary numbers use a base 2 system with two digits 0 and 1. The decimal equivalent of a binary number can be found by expanding it into a power series with a base of 2. For e2.

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