Talk:Binary digits: Difference between revisions
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::There are three distinct entities here. The input text is "5", and is a decimal representation of a number. In many languages, this is deserialized to an internal representation of a number (and this internal representation is binary). The result of tobinary() would then take this binary number and produces output text which is "101". There are some exceptions to this overview (snobol4, bash and m4 might all be exceptions). But, in the typical case tobinary() takes a binary number argument and produces a textual result (and in the exceptional cases it is still producing a textual result). --[[User:Rdm|Rdm]] 20:38, 8 July 2011 (UTC)
:::Ah right. I would tend to refer to the argument as numerical, rather than binary in this case. By binary, I mean the base two numbering system. The argument is not really binary, if it is not in base two. (I am talking at input level, not cpu level here.) [[User:Markhobley|Markhobley]] 21:20, 8 July 2011 (UTC)
::::But neither output text nor internal numbers are inputs in and of themselves (though either of them can be, with appropriate external interfaces). So this is a meaningless distinction without additional unspecified structure. --[[User:Rdm|Rdm]] 22:39, 8 July 2011 (UTC)
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