A
computer that stores
data in terms of digits (numbers) and proceeds in discrete steps from one
state to the next. The states of a digital computer typically involve
binary digits which may take the form of the presence or absence of magnetic markers in a storage medium (
see memory ), on-off switches or relays. In digital computers, even letters, words and whole texts are represented digitally. Unlike
analog computers, digital computers can only approximate a continuum by assigning large numbers of digits to a state description and by proceeding in arbitrarily small steps. (
Krippendorff )
