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Zahra

Data storage involves recording media to retrieve binary data, with ASCII and Unicode being the primary systems for character representation. Images and sounds, initially analogue, must be converted to digital data for computer processing, utilizing pixels and sampling respectively. Data compression techniques, including lossy and lossless methods, are used to reduce file sizes, with lossy compression sacrificing some data and lossless maintaining quality.

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22 views2 pages

Zahra

Data storage involves recording media to retrieve binary data, with ASCII and Unicode being the primary systems for character representation. Images and sounds, initially analogue, must be converted to digital data for computer processing, utilizing pixels and sampling respectively. Data compression techniques, including lossy and lossless methods, are used to reduce file sizes, with lossy compression sacrificing some data and lossless maintaining quality.

Uploaded by

zahrahayyat2010
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Data Storage

As computers only process the 1s and 0s that we


know to be binary.
All data stored on a computer is in binary form.
Data storage refers to the use of recording media to
retrieve data using computers or other devices.
A number of systems and software were developed to
do this for users and to help a computer store
different data such as text, images, video, and audio,
as well as numbers and symbols.
There are 2 systems commonly used for character
(text, numbers, and symbols) representation, namely
ASCII and Unicode.
ASCII uses only 8 bits, giving 256 possible characters.
It is suitable for Standard English but does not contain
a large enough character set for some languages.
Unicode contains many more characters.
Unicode uses 16 bits, giving 65,536 possible
characters.
In ASCII and Unicode, each character is represented as
a binary number. For example, the letter A is
01000001.
ASCII alphabet characters and the letters 'A' through
'Z' and 'a' through 'z'.
The range of lowercase alphabet (a to z) is 97 to 122.
The range of uppercase (A to Z) is 65 to 90.
Pictures
An image as we see it is analogue data, but a computer will only understand it if it is
digital data.
Analogue data has to be converted into digital data for a computer to process it.
Images are made up of pixels. A pixel is a tiny dot on the screen.
If we are given a series of binary data, we can use this in a grid. The dimensions of
the grid have to be known to be able to create the image. This data is called
metadata.
Metadata is what tells the computer how many pixels wide and how many pixels
high an image should be.
A computer needs further binary data to represent the colour of each pixel. Most
colours are made up of red, green, and blue in the RGB colour system.
Images can become large files, especially when they are high in quality.
To get the correct colour depth in each pixel to create a detailed image, the amount
of binary data needed is much greater.
Sound
The sound we hear is also analogue, but as we know, computers work digitally and
can only process binary.
The analogue sound is converted into binary for a computer to be able to process it.
Sound is recorded using a microphone and converted into binary by software.
Sound is recorded at set intervals; this process is known as sampling.
Data Compression
One thing that can be done to reduce the size of a file is by compression.
Compressing a file reduces its size and can have several benefits.
Data compression is the process of encoding, restructuring, or otherwise modifying
data in order to reduce its size.
Data compression is done by using algorithms that manipulate data.
An algorithm is a step-by-step set of instructions.
These algorithms normally manipulate the data so that repeating data is removed,
either on a temporary or permanent basis, depending on the method used.
There are two main methods of data compression: lossy and lossless.
Lossy Compression
It is used when a file can afford to lose some data and/or if storage space needs to
be freed up.
Here, an algorithm scans image files and reduces their size by discarding information
considered less important or undetectable to the human eye.
Lossless Compression
Lossless compression is a form of data compression that reduces file sizes without
sacrificing any significant information in the process, meaning it will not diminish the
quality of your photos.
It does not offer as many performance benefits as lossy compression.

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