hex

hex

a. short for hexadecimal notation, hexadecimal

b. (as modifier): hex code

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

HEX

On drawings, abbr. for “hexagon” or “hexagonal.”

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

hex

(1)

hexadecimal.

hex

(2)

A 6-pack of anything (compare quad). Neither usage has anything to do with magic or black art, though the pun is appreciated and occasionally used by hackers. True story: As a joke, some hackers once offered some surplus ICs for sale to be worn as protective amulets against hostile magic. The chips were, of course, hex inverters.

hex

(character)

The hash character, used to introduce hexadecimal constants in some assembly languages.

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

hex

(HEXadecimal) Hexadecimal means 16, and the base 16 numbering system is used as a shorthand for representing binary numbers. Each half byte (four bits) is assigned a hex digit or letter as in the following chart with its decimal and binary equivalents. Hex values are identified with an "h" or dollar sign, thus $A7, A7h and A7H all stand for hex A7. See hex chart and hex editor.

    Base16   10   2Hex  Dec  Binary
    0    0    0000
    1    1    0001
    2    2    0010
    3    3    0011
    4    4    0100
    5    5    0101
    6    6    0110
    7    7    0111
    8    8    1000
    9    9    1001
    A   10    1010
    B   11    1011
    C   12    1100
    D   13    1101
    E   14    1110
    F   15    1111

Interpreting the Hex

As decimal digits increment by 10, hexadecimal digits increment by 16. Hexadecimal is a shorthand for human readability of binary, which is the intrinsic numbering system in the computer. See binary values.

 A7
  = decimal 167 (10x16+7x1)
  = binary 10100111 (128+32+4+2+1)

 A000
  = decimal 40,960 (10x4096)
  = binary 1010000000000000 (32768+8192)

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