Assume that you want an attribute of an object (e.g., userFlags of the User object) to set 8 values. You use an 8-bit binary number to represent those 8 values. If you want the attribute to hold 11 values, you use an 11-bit binary number.
The binary system is a base-2 system in which 0 typically represents a false condition and 1 typically represents a true condition. In this example, that means 0 represents the value isn't set and 1 represents the value is set. So, if you want to set only the third and eighth values of an 8-value attribute, you set the third and eighth bits of an 8-bit binary number to 1, or &B10000100. (You read binary numbers from right to left.) The prefix &B specifies that the number is binary.
However, attributes store data as decimal values. Thus, you need to convert the binary number into a decimal value, which is base 10. For example, the binary number &B10000100 translates into
27 + 22
128 + 4 = 132
Instead of manually translating binary numbers into decimal values, you can use a conversion table, such as the Numeric Equivalents table in the Microsoft Press Computer Dictionary. . . .
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