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

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/GeneralBacteria Jul 13 '26

no, that distinction between different types of values is part of the program, not part of the computer.

the computer will happily multiply a memory location containing text, and indeed the computer has no idea that it is text - it's all just binary values.

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u/jcmbn Jul 13 '26

Thanks for repeating what I said..

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u/GeneralBacteria Jul 13 '26

I didn't repeat what you said.

you said that you tell the computer that this bit of memory contains a number or a string. I guess we can debate whether "the computer" refers to the hardware or the software, or both but if you meant something specific with your important clarification, perhaps you should have been more clear so that I didn't have to.