Binary code IP networks. The weight of a binary code, as defined in the table of constant-weight codes, is the Hamming weight of the binary words coding for the represented words or sequences. Binary code A binary code represents text, computer processor instructions, or any other data using a two-symbol system. The two-symbol system used is often the binary number system's 0 and 1. The binary code assigns a pattern of binary digits, also known as bits, to each character, instruction, etc. For example, a binary string of eight bits can represent any of 256 possible values and can, therefore, represent a
Binary number as by Bells, by Trumpets, by Lights and Torches, by the report of Muskets, and any instruments of like nature". (See Bacon's cipher.) John Napier in 1617 described a system he called location arithmetic for doing binary calculations using a non-positional representation by letters. Thomas Harriot investigated several positional numbering systems, including binary, but did not publish his results; they were found later among his papers. Possibly the first publication of the system in Europe was by Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, in 1700. Leibniz studied binary numbering in 1679; his work appears in his article "Explication de l'Arithmétique Binaire" (published