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ASCII Encoding and Corruption by Errors


A computer stores everything in bits (1's and 0's) and it is important that the information not be corrupted. Yet, every so often a bit does get flipped (changes values from 1 to 0, or from 0 to 1). The cause can be as complex as some malfunction in the digital circuitry of a computer or as simple (and unavoidable) as cosmic radiation. If no extra measures were taken, this would destroy the information.


Click your mouse inside the window on the left. Type in a 10 digit binary number (a sequence of 1's and 0's) and click START. Use the CHANGE BITS button (not too fast) to see random bit changes. Under each bit there is a counter indicating the number of times that bit was changed.

You can also try this out on some text. If you type a sentence in the "text" window below and press START (you have to click your mouse inside the window first), then it will be automatically translated into binary ASCII, where you can again create havoc by random bit changes; the right window shows the effect of these bit flips when the binary version gets translated back into a sentence.

Bit Flipper (Flash)

We also have a second implementation of the Bit Flipper (in Java) which you can see below. If you type a sentence in the "text" window below and press return, then it will be automatically translated into binary ASCII, where you can again flip bits; the last window shows the effect of these bit flips when the binary version gets translated back into a sentence.

Bit Flipper (Java)


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