Java™ How To Program (Early Objects), Tenth Edition

Bits

The smallest data item in a computer can assume the value 0 or the value 1. It’s called a bit (short for “binary digit”—a digit that can assume one of two values). Remarkably, the impressive functions performed by computers involve only the simplest manipulations of 0s and 1s—examining a bit’s value, setting a bit’s value and reversing a bit’s value (from 1 to 0 or from 0 to 1).