ABSTRACT
When we use computer applications, we interact with the computer at the user level, normally focusing surprisingly little attention on the technology that allows us to accomplish our work at hand. For example, when browsing the Internet, we likely think about the topic we are researching and the information on the screen rather than the servers and networks that make our communication possible. When writing using word processors, we concentrate on the content we want to convey and consider the application’s role only in such matters as type font, type size, and page layout. As users, we work with what we “see”; rarely do we stop and think about how the computer processes and organizes our data so that we can see them. Because the machine handles so many behind-thescenes tasks, we can easily ignore the technical details of how data are represented and stored. We let the machine make the technical decisions, and our work can progress smoothly. •e computer’s technical decisions about data representation, however, can a¡ect our work in several ways. It is to our advantage to understand how the storage of information impacts:
• •e accuracy of our results
• •e speed of processing
• •e range of alphabets available to us
• •e size of the –les we must store
• •e appearance of the graphics we see on the screen or printed on a page
• •e time it takes for materials to download on the Internet
An awareness of data representation and its consequences can guide us as we develop our own materials and as we use the materials of others. •is chapter focuses on the storage of numbers, characters, and other non-pictorial data, as a way to understand underlying fundamentals of data storage. Chapter 3 can then draw upon these ideas as it considers the storage of images.
