What does computer word length mean?

Derived from English bit, transliterated as "bit", meaning binary bit. Bit is the smallest unit of data storage in a computer, and110100 is an 8-bit binary number. A binary bit can only represent two states (0 and1); Two binary bits can represent four (22) states: 00,01,10,11; A three-digit binary number can represent eight states (23).

2, byte (byte)

Bytes comes from English Byte, which is transliterated as "Beit" and is customarily represented by a capital "B".

Byte is the basic unit of computer processing data. Information is stored and interpreted in bytes in a computer. It is specified that a byte consists of eight binary bits, that is, 1 byte equals eight bits (1 byte = 8 bits). The minimum number of octets is 00000000, and the maximum number is11111; Usually, an ASCII code can store 1 byte, and a Chinese character national standard code can store 2 bytes.

3. Words

When a computer processes data, the length of data accessed, processed and transmitted at one time is called a word. A word usually consists of one or more bytes (usually integer bits of bytes). For example, the word of 286 microcomputer consists of 2 bytes, and its word length is16; The word of 486 microcomputer consists of 4 bytes, and the word length is 32-bit computer.

The word length of a computer determines the number of bits actually processed by its CPU in one operation, indicating that the larger the word length of a computer, the better its performance.

Another way of saying it is:

word

In a computer, a string of numbers is processed or operated as a whole, which is called computer word, abbreviated as remainder. A word is usually divided into several bytes (each byte is usually 8 bits). In memory, each cell usually stores one word, so each word is addressable. The length of words is expressed by numbers.

In the arithmetic unit and controller of a computer, transmission is usually carried out in units of words. The meaning of Yu in addressing is different. For example, the words sent to the controller are instructions, while the words sent to the arithmetic unit are numbers.

A string of binary digits accessed, transmitted and processed as a whole in a computer is called a word or a unit, and the length of the binary digits in each word is called the word length. A word consists of several bytes. Different computer systems have different word lengths, including 8 bits, 16 bits, 32 bits, 64 bits and so on. The longer the word length, the more information bits the computer can process at a time, and the higher the accuracy. Word length is an important indicator of computer performance. At present, the mainstream microcomputers are all 32-bit computers.

Pay attention to the difference between words and word lengths. Words are units, and the length of words is an indicator, which needs to be measured by units. Just like the relationship between weight and kg in life, kg is the unit, weight is the indicator, and weight needs to be measured by kg.

Word size

The number of digits contained in each word of a computer is called word length. According to different computers, word length can be divided into fixed word length and variable word length. Fixed word length, that is, the word length is fixed in any case; Variable word length, within a certain range, its length is variable.

Computing word length refers to the number of binary digits it can handle at a time. The speed at which a computer processes data is naturally related to the number of bits it can process at a time and the operation speed. If the word length of one computer is twice as long as that of another computer, even if the two computers have the same speed, the former can do twice as much work as the latter in the same time.

Generally, the word length of a large computer is 32-64 bits, that of a small computer is 12-32 bits, and that of a microcomputer is 4- 16 bits. Word length is an important factor to measure computer performance.

byte

Bytes refer to a small group of adjacent binary numbers. Usually 8 bits are used as a byte. It is a small unit that constitutes information and participates in the operation as a whole. It is smaller than a word and is the unit that constitutes a word.

In a microcomputer, how many bytes are usually used to represent the storage capacity of a memory.

block

In information processing, a group of words as a unit is called "word block". Also called "word group". For example, the word groups stored on the track of the drum are called word blocks. On magnetic tape, there is usually a block mark every 120 characters, also called a block. General block spacing is1.27-2.54cm (1/2- 1 inch). In mass storage, information is stored in the form of blocks, so only blocks can be addressed. At present, the concept of "word block" has also been introduced into high-speed stamping technology.

Looking up the word length on the computer depends on the number of CPU.