Answer:
That is a question I saw posed recently on a news site and they answered no. I would disagree and say the answer is yes, with one exception.
Information and data are stored on computers and related devices normally in binary using a coding scheme.
Binary is a base two number system. It is similar to the decimal base ten number system that humans today use normally. Mathematicians will tell you there are unlimited number systems.
Binary is used to store data on electronic devices because it only has two single digit numbers. 1 and 0. Decimal has ten single digit numbers 0,1,2,3,4,5 ,6, 7, 8, and 9. It would be hard to store decimal on an electronic device as how to store 8 for instance, is it 80% of whatever or what. If we use binary if on it is 1, if it is off 0, magnetic charge 1 negative charge 0, etc.
For numbers this is easy. A 5 in decimal is equivalent to 101 in binary. If you want to learn how to do that there is a book on my website on the articles page on converting binary and decimal numbers.
When we store characters, we use a coding scheme that traditionally took 1 byte (8 binary numbers) to store a character but with all languages of the world we now use two byes to store one character. You can look in many computer books in the appendix and find a chart showing the conversions. So yes, we can read what is stored on a computer.
The exception is if it is encrypted and then the data is changed using a key and an algorithm to change the characters. The bigger the key and the more complex the algorithm the harder it is to break the code and decrypt the data. For humans it would take a long time, but computers depending on their speed and the complexity of the encryption done can do it quicker in guessing but with advanced techniques it could still take them hundreds of years. However, knowing the algorithm and key they can quickly decode the data.
Yes, we can read and understand what is stored in the computer.
Send me your questions about computers to my e-mail, dwight@dwightwatt.com, and tell me you read this in this paper. I will pick a question to answer each week.
Dwight Watt does computer work for businesses, individuals and organizations and teaches about computers at a technical college in northwest Georgia. His webpage is www.dwightwatt.com.
