Digital

1 - The concept of complete definition either on or off, 1 or 0. Not inbetween or 1.5. Oposite to analog.
2 - Digital Equipment Corporation. Once giant computer and peripheral manufacturer. Inventors of the Alpha Microprocessor. Purchased by Compaq in 1997, leading to the decline of the CPU performance wars.

A type of display element that shows readable numbers, such as a clock or meter, instead of a rotary dial with needles or "hands" pointing at a calibrated scale.

A numerically controlled interface.

Digital camera: stores colorimetric enumerations of a grid array (2D graphics) memory, often compressed, for eventual reproduction on a video screen or printer.

Modern (2009) computers use meta-data in addition to mere quantization, and descriptively named files also, since it can be demonstrated on pre-millenial computers that a number can also simultaneously be a picture and a sound and a text file. In the 1970's it was common for large academic computer rooms to be wallpapered with printouts of text ASCII art which could be recognized as a photograph from across the room, and also occasional tricks such as printing in such a way that the printing mechanism noise would sound like familiar music.

Dig"i*tal (?), a. [L. digitals.]

Of or performance to the fingers, or to digits; done with the fingers; as, digital compression; digital examination.

 

© Webster 1913.