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Why do people call an executable file (.exe) a binary file?

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donotdespisethesnake:
Usually people are not very old when they realise that language is not very precise, and not to worry too much about it.

But if you are worried about the use of "binary file", I don't know how your brain will cope when you discover auto-antonyms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-antonym

magic:
Unix binaries have a text section which holds the actual executable code as opposed to data, constants etc. Deal with that :P

I suppose "binary" originates from the fact that it's the binary machine code spat out by the compiler/assembler as opposed to the source. No deeper meaning to it.


--- Quote from: IanB on April 25, 2020, 02:30:30 pm ---A binary is a file that when opened in a text editor is not human readable.

--- End quote ---
No, that's a "binary file". Simply "a binary" is used almost exclusively for whatever forms of machine code.

Alex Eisenhut:

--- Quote from: Brumby on April 25, 2020, 01:37:06 pm ---To the OP:

Pick one (or more) of the following:
 * Troll
 * Snowflake
 * Pedant
 * Childish
 * Entitled

Please note: "Right" or any flavour thereof is not one of the options.


(I'd hate to see you on a discussion of current flow.)

--- End quote ---

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome

"literal interpretations and miscomprehension of nuance"

etc etc

Alex Eisenhut:

--- Quote from: donotdespisethesnake on April 25, 2020, 06:22:45 pm ---Usually people are not very old when they realise that language is not very precise, and not to worry too much about it.

But if you are worried about the use of "binary file", I don't know how your brain will cope when you discover auto-antonyms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-antonym

--- End quote ---

Or that kilo means 1024 in computers? Like wtf? I bought a kilo of strawberries and only got 1000 grams so I went back to the store and demanded my 24 grams because LOL why not

bluey:
Way back when, humans wrote and understood text and machines wrote and understood binary.

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