Re: pixels, bis

[Kennedy McEwen <rkm@kennedym.demon.co.uk>]

In article <00d701c12739$ea7a7e80$4eb8fea9@duron850>, Bruce Roorda
<possum1@softhome.net> writes

>It just happens that it's convenient to use "on" and "off" to represent data
>in computers.  It works well with the hardware.  Rather than two states, a
>"bit" could have three.  

Or more - as anyone who has read any of Claude Shannon's well
established work on information theory knows only too well.

>Except, since "bit" came from "binary digit", I
>suppose it would be a "trit".

Indeed, Shannon was the first to publish the term "bit" meaning binary
digit, the minimum piece of information possible - although he
attributed its origin to John Tukey, later of Fast Fourier Transform
fame.
-- 
Kennedy
Yes, Socrates himself is particularly missed;
A lovely little thinker, but a bugger when he's pissed.
Python Philosophers
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