Imagine you could only communicate with a light switch. You only have two signals: ON and OFF. This is exactly how computers "think," and it's the foundation of binary code, the language that powers the entire digital world.
The Language of 0s and 1s
At its core, a computer is a collection of billions of tiny electronic switches. "Binary" simply means there are only two possible states. We represent these states with two symbols: 0 (off) and 1 (on). Each 0 or 1 is called a "bit."
But how can just two symbols represent everything from a simple letter to a complex video game? The answer is by grouping them together.
From Bits to Bytes
Computers typically group 8 bits together to form a "byte." With 8 bits, there are 256 possible combinations of 0s and 1s. This allows a computer to assign a unique combination to every letter of the alphabet (both uppercase and lowercase), every number (0-9), and all the common symbols (like !, ?, and @).
For example, when you type the letter "H", the computer sees it as the byte `01001000`.
Seeing this in action is the best way to understand it. You can translate any word or sentence into the 0s and 1s that a computer would see.
Every single thing you do on a computer—from sending an email to watching a video—is, at its most fundamental level, a massive sequence of these 0s and 1s being processed at incredible speeds.