Bitstreng

Bitstreng is a term used to denote a finite sequence of bits, i.e., a string consisting solely of 0s and 1s. In computing, such bitstrings are the fundamental representation unit at the lowest level, used to encode and transmit data. The term is occasionally used in German- and Dutch-language texts as a direct translation of the English "bit string."

A bitstreng has a length measured in bits. In practice, bitstrings are stored in memory as bit arrays or as sequences of bytes, with the specific bit order (endianness) depending on the context or hardware. When written for humans, bitstrings are commonly presented as a sequence of digits, for example 01010101, sometimes grouped into nibbles (four bits) or bytes for readability.

Bitstrings are produced by encoding information or by receiving raw data. Common operations include concatenation, slicing (substrings), and bitwise operations (AND, OR, XOR). In higher-level contexts, bitstrings may be interpreted according to character encodings (ASCII, UTF-8) or used directly in compression and encryption schemes.

Applications span data transmission, storage, error detection and correction (parity, CRCs), cryptography, and digital signal processing. Bitstrings are also central in hardware design and verification, where they model signals, registers, and buses.

Terminology varies by language; some writers prefer bitstring, bit sequence, or bit array for the same concept. The use of "bitstreng" is thus largely contextual and may appear in translations or specific technical glossaries rather than as a standardized term across computing literature.