Packed Binary Coded Decimal Simulation

written by Teresa Carrigan


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WHAT IS IT?

This model demonstrates Packed Binary Coded Decimal character coding. Each decimal digit is converted separately to binary, and stored in one nibble.

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HOW IT WORKS

A random decimal number is generated, with 2 to 9 digits, and a random sign of either "+" or "-". The sign is moved to the far right, and then each character is converted to a binary nibble. If the number of nibbles is odd, we add one extra nibble of padding (1111) at the far left. Two nibbles are stored in each byte.


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Applets on this website were written by Teresa Carrigan in 2004, for use in computer science courses at Blackburn College, with the exception of the Fireworks applet. The applets made with NetLogo require Java 1.4.1 or higher to run. The applets made with NetBeans require Java 1.4.2 or higher to run. Applets might not run on Windows 95 or Mac OS 8 or 9. You may obtain the latest Java plugin from Sun's Java site.