What is binary?
Binary is a numbering system that serves as the basis for storage, transfer and manipulation of data in computer systems and digital electronic devices. The binary system is based on two numerals: 0 and 1.
Computers use binary because it’s the simplest method for counting available and is how a computer runs everything through your phone or PC, from memory to HD video streaming.
Understanding binary numbers can thus help us understand some of the fundamentals of computer operations at a sufficiently abstract level. After all, computer programs use Boolean logic (which deals with only two possible values: true or false. True is represented by 1 and false is represented by 0) to carry out their instructions.
How does binary work?
In this video from our Demystifying Tech series, Airdev's co-founder goes to the whiteboard to describe what binary is, why it's important to software development, and how it works. All in simple terms.
About our Demystifying Tech series
In this educational video series, we take a term from tech or software and explain what it means in very simple terms.
Watch all episodes from our Demystifying Tech series
- Episode 2: Binary
