 Introduction Digital Technology 1
| Even in digital technology, things can go wrong sometimes . . . |
Processing, transmission, and saving of information. These usually consist only of zeros and ones and are therefore discrete. In this context, this does not mean confidential or hidden from the public, but rather a form of
gradation.
At first glance, this also seems to involve a loss of accuracy, because the gradation means that all intermediate values are missing. However, it cannot be said that digital information cannot also achieve a very high degree
of accuracy.
At first, it may be disturbing that people always talk about 'information'. Yes, of course, if a sensor digitally reports the temperature of the coolant, then that is certainly information. But do they also flow when ABS reduces the
pressure on a specific brake?
Of course, everything is information that can be transmitted via a cable with at least two wires by changing or deliberately not changing the voltage. Perhaps not the breaks, if any are taken at all. But that's also the case in
normal conversation.
Is programming the only way to approach digital technology? No, of course not. Just imagine someone being tasked with repairing the interface between two optical fibers. And this is where the difference between
hardware and software comes into play.
Incidentally, the latter has only been around since the beginning of digital technology. Without these, it was completely impossible, for example, to sit at any device in an office and fundamentally change the processes of a
mechanic. Well, you could turn it on and off, but that was about it.
After electricity, this was one of the other inventions, of which AI is perhaps the temporary last at the moment. First, you save human energy, and then change flows in, even though the system itself does not change.
When switching on, as perhaps also during the first attempts at programming, there may have been only one input signal. After that, at some point, the possibility of feedback made a
significant contribution. Did what you wanted to initiate work out?
In the past, the equipment to be operated may have been located in the next room, and the feedback consisted of increasing noise, which could perhaps be prevented from causing major damage by switching it off in time.
Drivers will be able to tell you a thing or two about how they sometimes listened anxiously to a decrepit engine. Today, perhaps software may warn you of impending failure. In the best case scenario, you will find out exactly
what the problem was.
The introduction of digital technology can be clearly seen in the example of gasoline injection. The first one was still analog. All fine adjustments, which are absolutely standard in the design of the system, had to be made
using a screwdriver in the best case scenario.
Only the second one had a control unit that often only needed to be reprogrammed or, in some cases, only required a change to the underlying data. It was now also possible to save individual improvements in order to
revert to an earlier version, for example.
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