[from the mainstream meaning and `Binary digIT']
1. [techspeak] The unit of information; the amount of information
obtained by asking a yes-or-no question for which the two outcomes
are equally probable. 2. [techspeak] A computational quantity that
can take on one of two values, such as true and false or 0 and 1.
3. A mental flag: a reminder that something should be done
eventually. "I have a bit set for you." (I haven't seen you for
a while, and I'm supposed to tell or ask you something.) 4. More
generally, a (possibly incorrect) mental state of belief. "I have
a bit set that says that you were the last guy to hack on EMACS."
(Meaning "I think you were the last guy to hack on EMACS, and what
I am about to say is predicated on this, so please stop me if this
isn't true.")
"I just need one bit from you" is a polite way of indicating that
you intend only a short interruption for a question that can
presumably be answered yes or no.
A bit is said to be `set' if its value is true or 1, and
`reset' or `clear' if its value is false or 0. One speaks of
setting and clearing bits. To toggle or `invert' a bit is
to change it, either from 0 to 1 or from 1 to 0. See also
flag, trit, mode bit.
The term `bit' first appeared in print in the computer-science
sense in 1949, and seems to have been coined by early statistician
and computer scientist John Tukey. Tukey records that it evolved
over a lunch table as a handier alternative to `bigit' or
`binit'.
Related:
oggle: vt. To change a {bit} from whatever state it is in to the
other state o change from 1 to 0 or from 0 to 1. This comes from
`toggle switches', such as standard light switches, though the
word `toggle' actually refers to the mechanism that keeps the
switch in the position to which it is flipped rather than to the
fact that the switch has two positions....
oggle vt.
To change a bit from whatever state it is
in to the other state o change from 1 to 0 or from 0 to 1. This
comes from `toggle switches', such as standard light switches,
though the word `toggle' actually refers to the mechanism that
keeps the switch in the position to which it is flipped rather than
to the fact that the switch has two positions....