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Reading Assignment and Discussion Topics
Computer Science 111

for class on Thursday Feb. 26, 1998

Please read Sections 4.1 and 4.2 of the Schneider and Gersting text, and be prepared to discuss the following:

1. Figure out how to add two binary numbers (non-negative ones!) together. Adapt your grade-school method, and come up with an algorithm that you could use for binary numbers of a current popular size: 32 bits.

2. Groups of bits can represent lots of things besides numbers. Suppose you had an 8-bit byte that you knew represented some letter of the alphabet in ASCII, but you didn't know whether it was upper-case or lower-case. How would you change the byte into lower-case if it was upper-, but leave it alone if it was already lower-case?