Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software
Chapter 1: Best Friends
Code can be seen as a system for transferring information among people and machines - something that lets you communicate. We use various codes to communicate, based on the convenience they offer in a particular situation.
SOS is not an abbreviation of anything, it is simply an easy-to-remember Morse Code sequence.
Chapter 2: Codes and Combinations
“Samuel Finley Breese Morse” invented the morse code.
number of codes = 2^number of dots and dashes to represent a code
Analyzing binary codes is a simple exercise in the branch of Mathematics called combinatorics or combinatorial analysis.
How do you calculate the characters that are available in binary = 2^1 + 2^2 + + 2^3 + 2^4 + 2^5 + 2^6 = (2+4+8+16+32+64) = 126
Chapter 3: Braille and Binary Codes
- Louis Braille was born in France - 1809.
- Valentin Hauy has created a raised letter style for educating the blind through books
- Charles Barbier of the French army devised a system called Night Writing
- Ecriture Nocture in French
- A pattern of raised dots and dashes on heavy paper, used by soldiers to pass on notes during the night
- Soldiers made the marks using an awl-like stylus.
- It was a complex system, with patterns denoting sounds.
- Braille liked this system - as it was easier to write and read as well.
- He started improving the system and in three years he came up with his own system.
- The Braille System
- Each character is represented inside a 2x3 matrix (2 column, 3 rows)
- Each representation has dots addressed from 1 to 6
- And each dot is a binary(flat or raised). So total number of characters possible is 2^6.
- Currently we use Grade 2 Braille for published stuff in English.