It just occurred to me that this is an inaccurate representation of a bit -- I mean, aside from it being a floating object with shape and mass. In computing, a bit has two states, represented by 1 or 0. The bit in TRON has three states: Yes (1/yellow diamond), No (0/red spiky star) and Neutral (?/blue polygon).
One of those things I figured out on my own as a kid and thought I was brillianter than the whole computer industry until somebody patiently explained to me that integrated circuits can't work that way.
There's also ternary logic, where you can have 0,1, and whatever as your three states.
Or it's simply in a null/indeterminate state waiting for input.
One of those things I figured out on my own as a kid and thought I was brillianter than the whole computer industry until somebody patiently explained to me that integrated circuits can't work that way.