Okay, I’m sure I’ve teased it enough already that you get the point! Octet streams are quite simply larger sequences made up of 8 bit integers (AKA smaller 8 binary digit sequences). This can include ‘image/png’, ‘audio/mp3’, ‘application/msword’, but also ‘application/octet-stream.’ I’ve never heard of an octet-stream application… Generally, we fill in the precise data type in our ‘Content-Type’ headers. These are the foundations that we still build on today.
It’s not a huge leap to connect this standardization with the interactive, multimedia focused internet we have today it’s fact. This enables us to specify what content we’re sending or expecting. The headers we write at the top of every request and response? All MIME standardized. This standard was huge - while initially intended for email, it essentially defined the standards by which we still transfer our files today in both email, HTTP, and many other internet communication protocols. You have every number possible here! ‘application/octet-stream’īack to MIME RFC 2046 ( Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions - back when it seemed like emails were going to be the primary form of communication, AKA 1993!). For every 1 in a bit place n, add the value of 2^n to your total. So how do 8 bits turn into a value from 0–255? Let every bit place n represent 2^n, starting with index 0. Even today, most computers are built on multiples of 8 bytes to process data.Įach n place in the 8 binary digit sequence represents 2^n. Ultimately, 8 bit bytes became the standard. Since it was the smallest useful amount of bits, it became the core value for storing data in computers. These varied length sequences became known as bytes - in any system, one byte was used to encode one character on a computer. Originally, computers chose different lengths of bit sequences to encode data.
But in a sequence, it can represent many more. Quick history lesson: A bit - binary digit - represents our most basic unit used to compute. As the name may have tipped you off, these are unsigned (meaning no negative numbers) 8 bit integers.Ĩ bit integers are extremely important in the history of computing. If you’ve ever handled files at all with Javascript, you’ve probably seen the Uint8Array typed array or ArrayBuffer object either one is frequently caught handling a large array of numbers, each ranging from 0 to 255.
0 kommentar(er)
