Bit in Computer Science

A bit is the smallest amount of data that a computer can handle at once. It is basically an on/off switch, either representing a 1 (on) or 0 (off). At the most primal level of your computer, everything is a stream of bits. 8 bits together make a byte.

Flag Bit

Flag bits are single bit registers in CPUs similar to a flag variable. Each flag bit flags a binary (on / off) state of the processor. See also : 6502.

Bit in Game Programming

In general, bits are not usually dealt with in game programming. There is one notable exception, the bitmask.

Bitmasks

A bitmask is a series of bits used to flag the state of multiple things.

Related Pages

• Bitmask
• Binary
• Binary Data
• Computer Science
• Data