[A83] Re: Negative numbers

To: assembly-83@lists.ticalc.org
Subject: [A83] Re: Negative numbers
From: Patai Gergely <patai.ti@freemail.hu>
Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2002 18:31:07 +0100 (CET)
In-Reply-To: <LJB8RNFAVTHDJJGHGEBQPNLCFZU3.3c357c75@leshoffmann@9online>
Reply-To: assembly-83@lists.ticalc.org


Forget about numbers. Let's say you have a byte. A byte is 
actually not an 8-bit number, but something that can have 
256 different states. Now it's up to you to interpret 
(decode) these states. For instance, the same state can 
mean 224 if interpreted as an unsigned integer, -32 if 
interpreted as a signed integer or an "a" with an acute 
accent if interpreted as a win-1250 character... But they 
can mean basically anything.

The arithmetic unit of the CPU interprets them as integers, 
but if you output them to a text screen, they will become 
probably ASCII characters. All types of information are 
equivalent from the point of view of the computer, and the 
human is the one who can distinguish numbers from letters 
or pictures - or any kind of data.

PG

References:

[A83] Negative numbers

From: Guillaume Hoffmann <crono@ifrance.com>