INTRODUCTION TO

COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE AND

NETWORKING
(CT006-3-0-ICAN)

Chapter 2

Data Representation

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 Topic and structure of lesson

• General Considerations
• Binary numbers in computer processing
• Number systems and Inter-conversion
• Data Types

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 Learning Outcomes
At the end of this session, you should be able to:
▪ Understand how data is represented, stored, and
manipulated inside a computer.
▪ Understand the similarities and differences in the way
computers represent numerical, character, and image
data.
▪ Represent numeric data in different numbering systems

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 Key terms you must be able to use

You should be able to use the following terms

correctly in your assignments and exams:
▪ ADC ▪ ASCII
▪ DAC ▪ Unicode
▪ Decimal ▪ Pixel
▪ Binary ▪ Resolution
▪ Octal
▪ Hexadecimal

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 RECAP: Data VS Information

Comparison Description Example

Data Data is a collection of • Name
unprocessed items (raw facts), • D.O.B
which can include text, number, • Phone Number
image, audio and video.

Information Data is then organized and Name, D.O.B and Phone

presented as meaningful Number are managed
information to the people. and presented as
Customer Details.

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 Data Processing Cycle

– Once data is collected, it is processed to convert it into

useful information. This is called data processing cycle.
– The data processing is very important activity and
involves very careful planning. Usually, data processing
activity involves three basic activities:

1. Input
2. Processing
3. Output

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 Human Data

• Human communication
▪ Includes text, sound, image, video.
• Computers process and store all forms of data in binary
format.
• Human data has to be represented (converted) to binary
format before being processed by a computer.

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 Discussion

1. Why computers are made to understand and process digital signal not
analog signals?

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 Discussion

1. Why computers are made to understand and process digital signal not
analog signals?

Q1: Computers are unable to process analog signals because they are
digital devices. For digital devices such as computers, to work with analog
devices, conversion is required.

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 Discussion

1. Why computers are made to understand and process digital signal not
analog signals?
2. Why is Binary representation important for computers?

Q1: Computers are unable to process analog signals because they are
digital devices. For digital devices such as computers, to work with analog
devices, conversion is required.

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 Discussion

1. Why computers are made to understand and process digital signal not
analog signals?
2. Why is Binary representation important for computers?

Q1: Computers are unable to process analog signals because they are
digital devices. For digital devices such as computers, to work with analog
devices, conversion is required.

Q2: Computers (and most other modern electronic devices such as

cameras, mobile phones, etc.) are ‘digital’ devices because they process
data in the form of numbers (digits).

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 Discussion

• Why computer system use binary representation?

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 Discussion (Rationale)

• Why computer system use binary representation?

▪ Because the devices that store and manage the digital

data are far less expensive and complex for binary
representation.

▪ They are also far more reliable when they have to

represent one out of two possible values.

▪ Because the electronic signals are easier to maintain if

they carry only binary data.

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 Introduction to Binary

• Computers only recognize off and on, like a

light switch.
• These switches are represented as binary digits or… bits.
• Computer data are composed only of a series of bits.
• Human count in Base 10 (Decimal).
• Computers count in Base 2 (Binary).

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 Binary Representation

• One bit can be either 0 or 1. Therefore, one bit can

represent only two outputs.
• To represent more than two outputs, we need multiple bits.
Two bits can represent four outputs (combinations of 0 and
1) which are: 00, 01, 10,11.
• In general, n bits can represent 2n outputs (combinations of
0 and 1).
• Note that every time we increase the number of bits by 1,
we double the number of outputs (combinations).

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 Numbering Systems

• Main Numbering Systems:

▪ Binary ▪ Decimal
▪ Octal ▪ Hexadecimal

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 Conversion Between
Numbering System
Next, we will cover the following conversion between the
numbering system:
• Binary ↔ Decimal
• Octal ↔ Decimal
• Hexadecimal ↔ Decimal

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 Decimal → Binary
Change the decimal number 3410 to binary number.
So,

3410 = 1000102

Let’s Practise!
1. 2510 110012
2. 14510 100100012

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 Binary → Decimal
Change the binary number 1010 11002 to decimal number.
So,

101011002 = 17210

Let’s Practise!
1. 11012 1310
2. 111111112 25510

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 Decimal → Octal
Change the decimal number 56910 to octal number.
So,

56910 = 10718

Let’s Practise!
1. 2510 318
2. 14510 2218

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 Octal → Decimal
Change the octal number 1438 to decimal number.
So,

1438 = 9910

Let’s Practise!
1. 148 1210
2. 2358 15710

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 Decimal → Hexadecimal
Change the decimal number 200410 to hexadecimal number.

So,

200410 = 7D416

Let’s Practise!
1. 2510 1916
2. 14510 9116

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 Hexadecimal → Decimal

Change the octal number 1A16 to decimal number.

So,
161 160

1A16 = 2610
1 A

1x161 10x160 Let’s Practise!

16 10
1. 3F216 101010
2. 4D1E16 1974210
26

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 Analog Signal & Digital Data

• An analog signal is one which has a value that varies

smoothly.
• The sound waves that your mouth produces when you
speak are analog – the waves vary in a smooth way.
• These waves can be converted into an electrical signal by a
microphone. This electrical signal is also analog.

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 Analog to Digital Converter (ADC)
• A good example of a computer peripheral that requires
an ADC is a microphone.
• When you plug a microphone into a computer, you are
actually plugging it into an ADC which converts the analog
signals from the microphone into digital data that the
computer can then process.
• Try Voice Changer (Voice Changer - Online & Free)

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 Digital to Analogue Converter
(DAC)
• A good example of a computer peripheral that requires
a DAC is a loudspeaker or headphones.
• When you plug a loudspeaker into a computer, you are
actually plugging it into a DAC, which takes digital data
from the computer and converts it into analogue signals
which the loudspeaker then converts into sound.
• Listen to this…

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 Computer Data Formats

• Data formats
▪ Specifications for converting data into computer-
usable form.
▪ Define the different ways human data may be
represented, stored and processed by a computer.
• The computing systems store, present, and help us modify:
▪ Text
▪ Sound
▪ Image
▪ Video

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 Data Formats -
How To Interpret Data
–Human data have to be digitised using appropriate
standards.
• Text: need coding using standard codes
• Sound: need sampling with appropriate sampling rate.
• Image: need detailed description of the data, how
colour is represented at each data point
• Video: need continuous representation of consecutive
frames (images) and proper compression technique.

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 Data Formats - Standards

Type of Data Standards

Alphanumeric data
ASCII, Unicode
(Text)
Sound WAV, MP3, AIFF, RA, WMA, AAC, etc..
Image JPEG, GIF, PCX, TIFF, BMP, PNG, etc..
Video MPEG-2, Quick Time, MPEG-4, AVI, etc..

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 Type of Data (1) –
Alphanumeric Data (Text)
• Three standards for representing letters (alpha) and numbers
(numeric).

• American Standard Code for

ASCII
Information Interchange

Unicode • Universal Code

• Extended Binary-Coded Decimal Interchange Code

EBCDIC • Not used anymore. (Used to be used in IBM mainframes)

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 ASCII Features

• Originally: 7-bit code. (27 = 128 codes)

• Two general types of codes:
• EXTENDED ASCII: 8-BIT CODE

No. of codes Type of code Description

95 Graphic code Displayable on a console

33 Control code Control features of the console

or communication channel

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 ASCII Table

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 Extended ASCII Features

• Extended ASCII: 8-bit code. (28 = 256 codes)

• The first 128 codes are exactly the same as the original
ASCII codes.
• Can represent more special characters and Western
European characters such as: ė , á, Å, £, ¥, µ, ¼, ±.

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 Extended ASCII Table

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 “Hello, world” Example

Binary Hexadecimal Decimal

H = 01001000 = 48 = 72
e = 01100101 = 65 = 101
l = 01101100 = 6C = 108
l = 01101100 = 6C = 108
o = 01101111 = 6F = 111
, = 00101100 = 2C = 44
= 00100000 = 20 = 32
w = 01110111 = 77 = 119
o = 01100111 = 67 = 103
r = 01110010 = 72 = 114
l = 01101100 = 6C = 108
d = 01100100 = 64 = 100
Note: Each character requires 8 bits (1 byte)

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 Unicode

• Extended ASCII is not enough for international use.

• The Unicode is a 16-bit code. (216 = 65,536 codes)
• Unicode was designed to be a superset of ASCII. That is,
the first 256 characters in the Unicode character set
correspond exactly to the extended ASCII character set.
• Click this link to learn more about Unicode.

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 Type of Data (2) – Sound

• Sound is perceived when a series of air compressions

vibrate a membrane in our ear, which sends signals to our
brain.
• A stereo system sends an electrical signal to a speaker to
produce sound.
• This signal is an analog representation of the sound wave.
The voltage in the signal varies in direct proportion to the
sound wave.

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 Digitizing Sound

• To digitise the signal we periodically measure the voltage of

the signal and record the appropriate numeric value. The
process is called sampling.
• In general, a sampling rate of around 40,000 times per second
is enough to create a high quality sound reproduction.

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 Digitizing Sound (Cont…)

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 Type of Data (3) – Image

• Colour is our perception of the various frequencies of light

that reach the retinas of our eyes.
• Our retinas have three types of colour photoreceptor cone
cells that respond to different sets of frequencies
correspond to the colours of red, green, and blue.
• Colour is often expressed in a computer as an RGB (Red-
Green-Blue) value, which is actually three numbers that
indicate the relative contribution of each of these three
primary colours.

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 Digitizing Image – Pixel

• Digitising an image is the act of representing it as a

collection of individual dots called pixel.
• The word pixel was derived from the words, "picture
element".
• The number of pixels used to represent an image is called
the resolution.
• Each pixel is converted to a binary code that represents the
colour of the pixel.

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 Digitizing Image – Pixel

Note: Resolution is expressed in term of N x M (width x height)

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 Digitizing Image – Pixel

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 Digitizing Image – Pixel

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 Digitizing Image – Color Depth

The amount of data that is used to represent a colour is

called the colour depth.
Name Description

Monochrome uses 1-bit to represent 2 colours only (black and

white).

Greyscale uses 8-bits to represent black, white and

different levels of grey colours

True Colour / RGB Each component in RGB is represented using 8-

bits.

CMYK mainly for printing. Uses 32-bits to represent

Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black components.
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 Digitizing Image – Color Depth

Monochrome
1 = white; 0 = black Greyscale

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 Digitizing Image – Color Depth

True Colour / RGB CMYK

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 Digitizing Image –
Pixel & Color Depth

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 Digitizing Image – Color Depth

24-bit RGB Value Colour

Red Green Blue
0 0 0 black
255 255 255 white
255 255 0 yellow
255 130 255 Pink
146 81 0 brown
133 40 210 purple
140 0 0 maroon

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 Type of Data (4) – Video

• A sequence of consecutive images (frames) of objects

photographed in motion by a camera in such rapid
succession as to give the illusion of natural movement.

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 Type of Data (4) – Video

• Requires massive amounts of data

• Video camera producing full screen 640 x 480 pixel true
colour image at 30 frames/sec ➔ 27.65 MB of data/sec
• A video codec (Coder/Decoder) refers to the methods used
to compress the size of a movie to allow it to be played on
a computer or over a network.

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 Video Resolution

• Refers to the number of distinct pixels that could be

displayed in each dimension. It is usually quoted as width ×
height; for an example: “1280 × 720″, which it is called
720p.

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 Video Resolution

UHD

UHD
QHD
FHD
HD
SD
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 Video Resolution

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 Summary of Main Teaching Points

• Data must be converted from its native format into form understood by
processing device in order to be processed by the CPU.
• All data represented within a modern computer system as strings of binary
digits, or bits.
• Each type of computer data has a specific data format & coding method.
• Character is converted to numbers via coding table.
• Image is represented in pixels, resolution and colour depth.
• Sound is sampled and each sample is represented in binary.
• Video is a sequence of pictures that are recorded and played successively.

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 Question and Answer Session

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 What We Will Cover Next

Chapter 3 – CPU and Registers

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