ones and zeros

English

Noun

ones and zeros pl (plural only)

1. Alternative spelling of ones and zeroes
   • 1996, R[obert] James Woolsey [Jr.], “Resilience and Vulnerability in the Digital Age”, in Stuart J. D. Schwartzstein, editor, The Information Revolution and National Security: Dimensions and Directions (Significant Issues Series; vol. XVIII, no. 3), Washington, D.C.: Center for Strategic and International Studies, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 79:

     Hiro Protagonist [in Snow Crash (1992) by Neal Stephenson] must win, one might say, on both Surf and Turf against the wonderfully evil Evangelist Minister R. Bob Riff and his allies, both in the world of violence, swordplay, and aircraft carriers and in the world of ones and zeros.

   • 2006, Timothy W. Luke, “Power and Political Culture”, in Leah W. Lievrouw, Sonia Livingstone, editors, Handbook of New Media: Social Shaping and Social Consequences of ICTs, updated student edition, London, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications, →ISBN, part 1 (New Media, Culture and Society), page 163, column 2:

     [D]igitalization seems to be re(con)textualizing all those foundations into ones and zeros so thoroughly that one cannot find 'the programmer'.

   • 2007, Henning Mankell, chapter 8, in Laurie Thompson, transl., Kennedy’s Brain: Translated from the Swedish, New York, N.Y.: The New Press, →ISBN, part 1 (Christ’s Cul-de-sac), page 83:

     You once said that the "ones and zeros" in the world's computers were demons that could trick the human race into losing all its history.

   • 2008, Steven C. Seow, “Preface”, in Karen Gettman, editor, Designing and Engineering Time: The Psychology of Time Perception in Software, Upper Saddle River, N.J., Boston, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, →ISBN, page xvii:

     If you are a developer or an architect, you are one for a good reason: Your magic and craft is turning ones and zeros into a solution that makes life and work better.

   • 2012, Wayne M. Smith, “The Wraith of Frank—Cyber War Style”, in The Sand Castle, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, pages 99–100:

     Neo has been hacking since he was in elementary school. He is more at ease with ones and zeros than his own language.