the context, and hence interpretation, is totally up to
the reader.
The context is not up to "the reader." It is up to the programs
that create and manipulate the data in the computer. More precisely, it is up
to the programmer(s) who design and implement the programs.
Data in a
computer have meanings. They are not arbitrary values for you or me to describe
in random ways.
If the program stores a floating-point number in a memory
location (or on disk), then those bytes contain a floating-point number. If you
look at it and say that it is a binary number, you are simply incorrect. If
some other program processes those data as something other than a floating-point
number, at least one of those programs is probably doing so
incorrectly.
Even if you know the data type, you may not know what a memory
location contains. If a memory location contains an integer with a value of 65,
what is that? A person's age? The number of widgets in a warehouse? Someone's
weight? An index into a table? Only the program and the programmer know if it
is one of these or something else. Sometimes it is possible for an observer to
deduce the meaning; sometimes it is not possible.
Tom Marchant [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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