Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Path: ccw.ch!elna.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.internetmci.com!198.138.0.5!newshub.northeast.verio.net!news.pn.com!nntp.pn.com!uunet!in2.uu.net!world!dpbsmith From: dpbsmith@world.std.com (Daniel P. B. Smith) Subject: Origins of "1" and "0" on power switches Message-ID: Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 20:07:23 GMT Lines: 24 In 1964, I had a summer job in a biological research lab. The microscope illuminator I used, which were made by a German firm, I don't remember whether it was Zeiss or Leitz, was marked with what I took to be the numerals 0 and 1, with 0 being "off" and 1 being "on." Being a sort of junior computer nerd at the time, I uttered some kind of lame jocularity about it which nobody understood, and was told that in fact the characters were not the numerals 0 and 1, but the letters O and I, which, it was said, were the initial letters of the German words for "off" and "on" respectively. a) Can someone who knows German confirm this? I was _very_ young and someone _could_ have been pulling my leg. b) This is sort of a Zen question: but are modern computers the same way? That is, are the characters on modern computer power switches which _appear_ to be the numerals 0 and 1 truly those numerals? Or are they really the letters O and I, inherited from German custom, but conveniently overloaded with a numeric interpretation for the benefit of non-German-speakers? -- Daniel P. B. Smith dpbsmith@world.std.com ###### Path: ccw.ch!usenet From: Neil Franklin Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Origins of "1" and "0" on power switches Date: 06 Jun 1998 01:05:02 +0200 Organization: My own Private Self Lines: 17 Message-ID: References: X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.3/Emacs 19.34 dpbsmith@world.std.com (Daniel P. B. Smith) writes: > and was told that in fact the characters were not the numerals 0 and 1, > but the letters O and I, which, it was said, were the initial > letters of the German words for "off" and "on" respectively. > > a) Can someone who knows German confirm this? I was _very_ young > and someone _could_ have been pulling my leg. The German words are: Ein (On) and Aus (Off). How long is your leg now? -- private: Neil.Franklin@ccw.ch.remove http://www.ccw.ch/Neil.Franklin/ office: franklin@arch.ethz.ch.remove http://caad.arch.ethz.ch/~franklin/ WinCE car, crashing soon on a road near you