ones and zeroes

English

WOTD – 17 May 2020

Etymology

Ones and zeroes displayed on a dot-matrix computer monitor.

From the fact that the numerals 1 (one) and 0 (zero) are used to indicate binary numbers.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwʌnz n̩ ˈzɪəɹəʊz/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwʌnz n̩ ˈzɪɹ(ˌ)oʊz/, /-ˈzi(ˌ)ɹoʊz/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ones and ze‧roes

Noun

ones and zeroes pl (plural only)

1. (computing, informal) Binary code; on and off bits.
   • 1989 August 17, Tom Clancy, Clear and Present Danger, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →ISBN; Berkley premium tie-in edition, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Books, November 2018, →ISBN, page 360:

     The incoming signals were broken down into digital code—ones and zeroes—by a relatively simple computer and downlinked to Fort Huachuca, where another computer of vastly greater power examined the bits of raw information and tried to make sense of them.

   • 1990, G. E. Scott, “Malleable Persons”, in Moral Personhood: An Essay in the Philosophy of Moral Psychology (SUNY Series in Ethical Theory), Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, →ISBN, page 40:

     The so-called higher level programming languages, like the various dialects of BASIC and PASCAL familiar to students in the 1980s, greatly simplified the business of programming, since it is no longer necessary—at least for certain purposes—to do what is now called "machine language programming," or what in earlier days was programming, i.e., employing the ones and zeroes now frequently viewed as rather tedious and theoretical [...]

   • 1996, R[obert] James Woolsey [Jr.], “Resilience and Vulnerability in the Digital Age”, in Stuart J. D. Schwartzstein, editor, The Information Revolution and National Security: Dimensions and Directions (Significant Issues Series; vol. XVIII, no. 3), Washington, D.C.: Center for Strategic and International Studies, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 79:

     Hiro Protagonist [in Snow Crash (1992) by Neal Stephenson] must win, one might say, on both Surf and Turf against the wonderfully evil Evangelist Minister R. Bob Riff and his allies, both in the world of violence, swordplay, and aircraft carriers and in the world of ones and zeros.

   • 1998, Doug Carlston, “Storing Knowledge”, in Margaret MacLean, Ben H. Davis, editors, Time & Bits: Managing Digital Continuity, Los Angeles, Calif.: Getty Conservation Institute, →ISBN, page 24:

     Now one must also: [...] be able to discern or possess a device that is able to discern the ones and zeroes on the storage medium, [...]

   • 2001, Andrew Brook, Robert J. Stainton, “Knowledge of Language”, in Knowledge and Mind: A Philosophical Introduction (A Bradford Book), 1st paperback edition, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, →ISBN, pages 54–55:

     But suppose there is a special and universal and innate language for thinking. Suppose, in particular, that just as computers have a language of ones and zeroes that underlies all of their programs and applications, there is an equally fundamental language shared by all humans: a language of thought (lot) [...].

   • 2007, Henning Mankell, chapter 8, in Laurie Thompson, transl., Kennedy’s Brain: Translated from the Swedish, New York, N.Y.: The New Press, →ISBN, part 1 (Christ’s Cul-de-sac), page 83:

     You once said that the "ones and zeros" in the world's computers were demons that could trick the human race into losing all its history.

   • 2008, Steven C. Seow, “Preface”, in Karen Gettman, editor, Designing and Engineering Time: The Psychology of Time Perception in Software, Upper Saddle River, N.J., Boston, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, →ISBN, page xvii:

     If you are a developer or an architect, you are one for a good reason: Your magic and craft is turning ones and zeros into a solution that makes life and work better.

   • 2012, Wayne M. Smith, “The Wraith of Frank—Cyber War Style”, in The Sand Castle, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, pages 99–100:

     Neo has been hacking since he was in elementary school. He is more at ease with ones and zeros than his own language.

   • 2018 November 14, Jesse Hassenger, “Disney Goes Viral with an Ambitious, Overstuffed Wreck-It Ralph Sequel”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1], archived from the original on 21 November 2019:

     If the movie [Ralph Breaks the Internet] never falls into a feedback loop, credit should probably go to [John C.] Reilly and especially [Sarah] Silverman, who bring human vulnerability to little bits of ultra-branded ones and zeroes.

Alternative forms

• ones and zeros

Translations

binary code — see binary code

Further reading

• binary number on Wikipedia.Wikipedia