The Birth of 8-Bit Computing

Microarchitecture for the Intel 8008, the earliest 8-bit processor

8-bit computing is where information is collected, stored and manipulated as 8 bits of numerical data. Each bit can have a value of 0 (with no value, or 'null' state) or 1 (with a value, or 'valid' state). This numbering system of zeros and ones is called binary. A piece of information can therefore be represented by a value that is 8 bits long (called a 'byte'), for example: '10101010'. The value of '10101010' is equivalent to the decimal value '340' as shown in the diagram below.

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Intel 8008 microarchitecture courtesy of Appaloosa - own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5229420