Digital data

Digital data, in information theory and information systems, is the discrete, discontinuous representation of information or
works. Numbers and letters are commonly used representations.

Digital data can be contrasted with analog signals which behave in a continuous manner, and with continuous functions such as
sounds, images, and other measurements.

The word digital comes from the same source as the words digit and digitus (the Latin word for finger), as fingers are often used
for discrete counting. Mathematician George Stibitz of Bell Telephone Laboratories used the word digital in reference to the fast
electric pulses emitted by a device designed to aim and fire anti-aircraft guns in 1942.[1] The term is most commonly used in
computing and electronics, especially where real-world information is converted to binary numeric form as in digital audio and
digital photography.

Contents
Symbol to digital conversion
States
Properties of digital information
Historical digital systems
See also
References
Further reading

Symbol to digital conversion

Since symbols (for example, alphanumeric characters) are not continuous, representing symbols digitally is rather simpler than
conversion of continuous or analog information to digital. Instead of sampling and quantization as in analog-to-digital
conversion, such techniques as polling and encoding are used.

A symbol input device usually consists of a group of switches that are polled at regular intervals to see which switches are
switched. Data will be lost if, within a single polling interval, two switches are pressed, or a switch is pressed, released, and
pressed again. This polling can be done by a specialized processor in the device to prevent burdening the main CPU. When a new
symbol has been entered, the device typically sends an interrupt, in a specialized format, so that the CPU can read it.

For devices with only a few switches (such as the buttons on a joystick), the status of each can be encoded as bits (usually 0 for
released and 1 for pressed) in a single word. This is useful when combinations of key presses are meaningful, and is sometimes
used for passing the status of modifier keys on a keyboard (such as shift and control). But it does not scale to support more keys
than the number of bits in a single byte or word.

Devices with many switches (such as a computer keyboard) usually arrange these switches in a scan matrix, with the individual
switches on the intersections of x and y lines. When a switch is pressed, it connects the corresponding x and y lines together.
Polling (often called scanning in this case) is done by activating each x line in sequence and detecting which y lines then have a
signal, thus which keys are pressed. When the keyboard processor detects that a key has changed state, it sends a signal to the
CPU indicating the scan code of the key and its new state. The symbol is then encoded, or converted into a number, based on the
status of modifier keys and the desired character encoding.

A custom encoding can be used for a specific application with no loss of data. However, using a standard encoding such as ASCII
is problematic if a symbol such as 'ß' needs to be converted but is not in the standard.

It is estimated that in the year 1986 less than 1% of the world's technological capacity to store information was digital and in
2007 it was already 94%.[2] The year 2002 is assumed to be the year when human kind was able to store more information in
digital than in analog format (the "beginning of the digital age").[3][4]

States
Digital data come in these three states: data at rest, data in transit and data in use. The confidentiality, integrity and availability
have to be managed during the entire lifecycle from 'birth' to the destruction of the data.

Properties of digital information

All digital information possesses common properties that distinguish it from analog data with respect to communications:

Synchronization: Since digital information is conveyed by the sequence in which symbols are ordered, all digital
schemes have some method for determining the beginning of a sequence. In written or spoken human
languages, synchronization is typically provided by pauses (spaces), capitalization, and punctuation. Machine
communications typically use special synchronization sequences.
Language: All digital communications require a formal language, which in this context consists of all the
information that the sender and receiver of the digital communication must both possess, in advance, in order for
the communication to be successful. Languages are generally arbitrary and specify the meaning to be assigned
to particular symbol sequences, the allowed range of values, methods to be used for synchronization, etc.
Errors: Disturbances (noise) in analog communications invariably introduce some, generally small deviation or
error between the intended and actual communication. Disturbances in a digital communication do not result in
errors unless the disturbance is so large as to result in a symbol being misinterpreted as another symbol or
disturb the sequence of symbols. It is therefore generally possible to have an entirely error-free digital
communication. Further, techniques such as check codes may be used to detect errors and guarantee error-free
communications through redundancy or re-transmission. Errors in digital communications can take the form of
substitution errors in which a symbol is replaced by another symbol, or insertion/deletion errors in which an extra
incorrect symbol is inserted into or deleted from a digital message. Uncorrected errors in digital communications
have unpredictable and generally large impact on the information content of the communication.
Copying: Because of the inevitable presence of noise, making many successive copies of an analog
communication is infeasible because each generation increases the noise. Because digital communications are
generally error-free, copies of copies can be made indefinitely.
Granularity: The digital representation of a continuously variable analog value typically involves a selection of
the number of symbols to be assigned to that value. The number of symbols determines the precision or
resolution of the resulting datum. The difference between the actual analog value and the digital representation is
known as quantization error. For example, if the actual temperature is 23.234456544453 degrees, but if only two
digits (23) are assigned to this parameter in a particular digital representation, the quantizing error is:
0.234456544453. This property of digital communication is known as granularity.
Compressible: According to Miller, "Uncompressed digital data is very large, and in its raw form, it would
actually produce a larger signal (therefore be more difficult to transfer) than analog data. However, digital data
can be compressed. Compression reduces the amount of bandwidth space needed to send information. Data
can be compressed, sent and then decompressed at the site of consumption. This makes it possible to send
much more information and result in, for example, digital television signals offering more room on the airwave
spectrum for more television channels."[4]

Historical digital systems

Even though digital signals are generally associated with the binary electronic digital systems used in modern electronics and
computing, digital systems are actually ancient, and need not be binary or electronic.
 DNA genetic code is a naturally occurring form of digital data storage.
Written text (due to the limited character set and the use of discrete symbols – the alphabet in most cases)
The abacus was created sometime between 1000 BC and 500 BC, it later became a form of calculation
frequency. Nowadays it can be used as a very advanced, yet basic digital calculator that uses beads on rows to
represent numbers. Beads only have meaning in discrete up and down states, not in analog in-between states.
A beacon is perhaps the simplest non-electronic digital signal, with just two states (on and off). In particular,
smoke signals are one of the oldest examples of a digital signal, where an analog "carrier" (smoke) is modulated
with a blanket to generate a digital signal (puffs) that conveys information.
Morse code uses six digital states—dot, dash, intra-character gap (between each dot or dash), short gap
(between each letter), medium gap (between words), and long gap (between sentences)—to send messages via
a variety of potential carriers such as electricity or light, for example using an electrical telegraph or a flashing
light.
The Braille system was the first binary format for character encoding, using a six-bit code rendered as dot
patterns.
Flag semaphore uses rods or flags held in particular positions to send messages to the receiver watching them
some distance away.
International maritime signal flags have distinctive markings that represent letters of the alphabet to allow ships to
send messages to each other.
More recently invented, a modem modulates an analog "carrier" signal (such as sound) to encode binary
electrical digital information, as a series of binary digital sound pulses. A slightly earlier, surprisingly reliable
version of the same concept was to bundle a sequence of audio digital "signal" and "no signal" information (i.e.
"sound" and "silence") on magnetic cassette tape for use with early home computers.

See also
Analog-to-digital converter Digital electronics
Binary number Digital infinity
Comparison of analog and digital recording Digital native
Data (computing) Digital physics
Data remanence Digital recording
Digital architecture Digital Revolution
Digital art Digital video
Digital control Digital-to-analog converter
Digital divide Internet forum

References
1. Ceruzzi, Paul E (June 29, 2012). Computing: A Concise History. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-51767-6.
2. "The World’s Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information" (http://www.sciencemag.
org/content/332/6025/60), especially Supporting online material (http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2011/
02/08/science.1200970.DC1/Hilbert-SOM.pdf), Martin Hilbert and Priscila López (2011), Science, 332(6025), 60–
65; free access to the article through here: martinhilbert.net/WorldInfoCapacity.html
3. "video animation on The World’s Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information from
1986 to 2010 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIKPjOuwqHo)
4. Miller, Vincent (2011). Understanding digital culture. London: Sage Publications. sec. "Convergence and the
contemporary media experience". ISBN 978-1-84787-497-9.

Further reading
Tocci, R. 2006. Digital Systems: Principles and Applications (10th Edition). Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-172579-3

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