Bit is the fundamental unit of information in computing, representing a binary value of either 0 or 1. It's like the atom of the digital world, except instead of protons and electrons, it's just got two states - on or off, true or false, yes or no, 1 or 0 - no room for any of that analog "maybe" nonsense.

How to use it in a sentence

• I spent all day optimizing my code to shave off just a few bits of memory usage, because apparently that's what we've been reduced to in this age of cloud computing and big data.

• Bob's startup claims their new compression algorithm can store the entire Library of Congress in just a handful of bits, but I'm pretty sure he's just huffing the blockchain hype again.

If you actually want to learn more...

• Bits can be used to represent not just integers, but also rational numbers using formats like posit numbers. Check out this article for a deep dive into 8-bit posit number representations.

• Rational approximations are often used to represent decimals as fractions of integers, which can be useful for bit-based arithmetic. This page explains an algorithm to find optimal rational approximations.

• If you really want to go down the rabbit hole of bit-based computing and low-level programming, check out some of the classic resources compiled by Paul Graham here, covering everything from Lisp machines to bit-level ALU operations. Happy bit twiddling!

Note: the Developer Dictionary is in Beta. Please direct feedback to skye@statsig.com.