Originally published at: http://www.howtogeek.com/163755/how-many-memory-addresses-can-the-ram-in-my-computer-hold/
Somedays it’s fun to look at the surface level of the computing experience and other days it’s fun to delve right into the inner workings. Today we’re taking a look at the structure of computer memory and just how much stuff you can pack in a stick of RAM.
I'm a bit confused of number 255. How it get?
In binary the sequence 1111 1111 equals 255. There are really 256 numbers because 0000 0000 is the first number.
In decimal, the values of digits are like this:
2 5 5
Hundreds Tens Ones
Thus, when you say 255, you're really saying 200+50+5.
Similarly, the values of digits in binary are also broken down:
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
128s 64s 32s 16s Eights Fours Twos Ones
Thus, when you say 11111111 (binary), you're really saying 128+64+32+16+8+4+2+1 - which is equal to 255.
Would it be possible to "scrabble" (combine portions of code for a more condensed use of space) in segmentation? I understand that at this point it may not be practical (there is plenty of memory and we don't need to worry about how we use the space) or reasonable (why give me one more thing to think about as a programmer!?). I am simply inquiring as to whether or not it's possible.