A bit is one switch with two positions. Everything a machine stores is a row of these switches, because a machine can only tell one thing from another.
About 2 min of reading
Probe what bits can hold.
Print the two values one bit holds.
Before you run it, say out loud what it will print. Then open the answer.
Print what eight bits hold.
Before you run it, say out loud what it will print. Then open the answer.
Read a row of bits as a number.
Before you run it, say out loud what it will print. Then open the answer.
Show the bits of sixty five.
Before you run it, say out loud what it will print. Then open the answer.
Read the first example one line at a time. A line that prints shows what appears on screen; the rest set things up quietly.
A machine is built from parts that answer one of two things. Two states is the simplest thing to build reliably, and combinations of it can represent anything.
The same row of bits can be a number, a letter, or a color. What it means depends on the rule used to read it, which is the point of every later lesson.
print(0)
print(1)A bit is 0 or 1, off or on, yes or no. Those two answers are all a single bit can carry.
print(0b1011)Four bits in a row read as eleven. The row is a number, and the same row can be a letter or a color.
print(2 ** 1, 2 ** 2, 2 ** 8)One bit holds two values, two bits hold four, eight bits hold two hundred fifty six. Each bit doubles the count.
print(int("1100", 2))Reading the row of ones and zeros as base two gives twelve. The row is text, the number is what it means.
print(len(bin(255)) - 2)The largest value in one byte needs eight bits. A byte is the row of eight switches a machine handles as one unit.
print(bin(65))The number sixty five is stored as bits. The letter A is a rule that maps those bits to a shape on screen.
print(0b11111111)Eight switches answer two hundred fifty six questions. That is enough to name every plain letter and small number.
print(1 - 0)One bit records one yes-or-no answer. A row of bits records many such answers side by side.