key hexadecimal or binary values directly into memory bytes

macinatormacinator
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
A pc person was bashing mac and he was telling me that mac cannot "key hexadecimal or binary values directly into memory bytes".



What exactly does this mean? I just finished my second year of college majoring in Computer Information Systems and I have never run across anything like this before. I am not quite sure what the term means and I was hoping somebody could give me some information on it, a google search did not turn up anything. For the record, he has no idea what it means either, he was just repeating something he had read on an anti-mac site.



Thanks for any help

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    bbwibbwi Posts: 812member
    Rather than argue this point with him (whether it be true or not) why not argue what you do know for sure. If he can't tell you what it means and what the adverse affects might be then he simply has no argument.



    In college, they should eventually teach you that you cannot just simply state a fact and use that as an argument. You must backup and/or explain the fact and the positive/negative impact it may/may not have on whatever it is you are arguing.



    I think a little summer school may help out your friend.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    mr. memr. me Posts: 3,221member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macinator View Post


    A pc person was bashing mac and he was telling me that mac cannot "key hexadecimal or binary values directly into memory bytes".



    What exactly does this mean? ... For the record, he has no idea what it means either, he was just repeating something he had read on an anti-mac site.



    ...



    You should advise your friend never to repeat comments that he does not understand. It is particularly embarrassing when the comment is wrong. The GUI utility HexEdit does what? It allows the user to enter or alter hexadecimal values in memory locations. You may use other GUI-based utilities to do this, or you may use the Terminal.



    This is important, particularly in software development, because a hexadecimal (base-16) value is the numerical value of a byte or a group of four (4) bits. Software developers use hexadecimal because it is more concise than binary (base-2), the native language of digital electronics.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    macinatormacinator Posts: 4member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. Me View Post


    You should advise your friend never to repeat comments that he does not understand. It is particularly embarrassing when the comment is wrong. The GUI utility HexEdit does what? It allows the user to enter or alter hexadecimal values in memory locations. You may use other GUI-based utilities to do this, or you may use the Terminal.



    This is important, particularly in software development, because a hexadecimal (base-16) value is the numerical value of a byte or a group of four (4) bits. Software developers use hexadecimal because it is more concise than binary (base-2), the native language of digital electronics.



    Thank you very much.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,326moderator
    If he was talking about the computer's Ram, Apple provide free utilities to do this with the developer tools:







    I guess it's a good thing anti-Mac sites are having to look for such esoteric problems in order to continue the bashing.



    I don't even know why people need a reason though. If you don't like oranges then you don't try and break down why oranges are bad and then go around spreading pointless information like 'y'know, an old guy in Florida probably wiped his ass with that orange'. So why do it with Apples?
  • Reply 5 of 5
    old-wizold-wiz Posts: 194member
    Fooling around with changing memory on a live system is a good way to cause a crash. I spent 40 years as a software engineer and had to do this from time to time, and it is not a fun thing to do. Unless you really know what you are doing, forget it.
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