Hexadecimal

(Picture above is of the Reboot villain, Hexadecimal)
 

Hexadecimal or "Hex" for short, is a way of representing numbers. It is used in many programming codes.
Decimal is the system we usually use for numbers, this is a "base ten" system as it uses ten different numerals:

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9

Similarly, hexadecimal is a base 16 system. ("hex" is Latin for six, "deci" is Latin for ten) It uses the ten numerals used by the decimal system, plus the first six letters of the alphabet.

You'll notice that the first nine numbers are identical in decimal and hex, but then instead of moving on to two digits, hex uses the six letters first to represent the decimal numbers 10 to 15.
You can quickly see the advantage of hexadecimal, it condenses the volume of data considerably. In fact ALL the 256 numbers used by Creatures are all two digit in hex.

Also in the table is the ASCII code, useful for hex editing. The green ones at the beginning are acronyms of the command triggered rather than a character. 

 

HEX  DECIMAL ASCIIBINARY   HEX  DECIMAL ASCIIBINARY   HEX  DECIMAL ASCII   HEX  DECIMAL ASCII   HEX  DECIMALASCII
0 0 null0000000032 50 20011001064 100 d96 150 –C8 200È
1 1 soh0000000133 51 30011001165 101 e97 151 —C9 201É
2 2 stx0000001034 52 40011010066 102 f98 152 ˜CA 202Ê
3 3 etx0000001135 53 50011010167 103 g99 153 ™CB 203Ë
4 4 eot0000010036 54 60011011068 104 h9A 154 šCC 204Ì
5 5 enq0000010137 55 70011011169 105 i9B 155 ›CD 205Í
6 6 ack0000011038 56 8001110006A 106 j9C 156 œCE 206Î
7 7 bel0000011139 57 9001110016B 107 k9D 157 CF 207Ï
8 8 bs000010003A 58 :001110106C 108 l9E 158 žD0 208Ð
9 9 tab000010013B 59 ;001110116D 109 m9F 159 ŸD1 209Ñ
A 10 lf000010103C 60 <001111006E 110 nA0 160 D2 210Ò
B 11 vt000010113D 61 =001111016F 111 oA1 161 ¡D3 211Ó
C 12 ff000011003E 62 >0011111070 112 pA2 162 ¢D4 212Ô
D 13 cr000011013F 63 ?0011111171 113 qA3 163 £D5 213Õ
E 14 so0000111040 64 @0100000072 114 rA4 164 ¤D6 214Ö
F 15 si0000111141 65 A0100000173 115 sA5 165 ¥D7 215×
10 16 dle0001000042 66 B0100001074 116 tA6 166 ¦D8 216Ø
11 17 dc10001000143 67 C0100001175 117 uA7 167 §D9 217Ù
12 18 dc20001001044 68 D0100010076 118 vA8 168 ¨DA 218Ú
13 19 dc30001001145 69 E0100010177 119 wA9 169 ©DB 219Û
14 20 dc40001010046 70 F0100011078 120 xAA 170 ªDC 220Ü
15 21 nak0001010147 71 G0100011179 121 yAB 171 «DD 221Ý
16 22 syn0001011048 72 H010010007A 122 zAC 172 ¬DE 222Þ
17 23 etb0001011149 73 I010010017B 123 {AD 173 DF 223ß
18 24 can000110004A 74 J010010107C 124 |AE 174 ®E0 224à
19 25 em000110014B 75 K010010117D 125 }AF 175 ¯E1 225á
1A26sub000110104C76L010011007E126~B0176°E2226â
1B 27 esc000110114D 77 M010011017F 127 delB1 177 ±E3 227ã
1C 28 fs000111004E 78 N0100111080 128 €B2 178 ²E4 228ä
1D 29 gs000111014F 79 O0100111181 129 B3 179 ³E5 229å
1E 30 rs0001111050 80 P0101000082 130 ,B4 180 ´E6 230æ
1F 31 us0001111151 81 Q0101000183 131 ƒB5 181 µE7 231ç
20 32 space0010000052 82 R0101001084 132 „B6 182 E8 232è
21 33 !0010000153 83 S0101001185 133 …B7 183 ·E9 233é
22 34 "0010001054 84 T0101010086 134 †B8 184 ¸EA 234ê
23 35 #0010001155 85 U0101010187 135 ‡B9 185 ¹EB 235ë
24 36 $0010010056 86 V0101011088 136 ˆBA 186 ºEC 236ì
25 37 %0010010157 87 W0101011189 137 ‰BB 187 »ED 237í
26 38 &0010011058 88 X010110008A 138 ŠBC 188 ¼EE 238î
27 39 '0010011159 89 Y010110018B 139 ‹BD 189 ½EF 239ï
28 40 (001010005A 90 Z010110108C 140 ŒBE 190 ¾F0 240ð
29 41 )001010015B 91 [010110118D 141 BF 191 ¿F1 241ñ
2A 42 *001010105C 92 \010111008E 142 ŽC0 192 ÀF2 242ò
2B 43 +001010115D 93 ]010111018F 143 C1 193 ÁF3 243ó
2C 44 ,001011005E 94 ^0101111090 144 C2 194 ÂF4 244ô
2D 45 -001011015F 95 _0101111191 145 ‘C3 195 ÃF5 245õ
2E 46 .0010111060 96 `0110000092 146 ’C4 196 ÄF6 246ö
2F 47 /0010111161 97 a0110000193 147 “C5 197 ÅF7 247÷
30 48 00011000062 98 b0110001094 148 ”C6 198 ÆF8 248ø
31 49 10011000163 99 c0110001195 149 •C7 199 ÇF9 249ù
FA 250ú
FB 251û
FC 252ü
FD 253ý
FE 254þ
FF 255ÿ

 

Here seems a good place to mention binary. As you may or may not know, a computer runs, at its most basic level on 1s and 0s.
Representing pulses of electricity in the circuitry.
Binary is a base 2 system, with only two numerals: 1 and 0.
"bi" is latin for two.

In computer lingo, a single digit in a binary number is called a bit,
eight bits make up a byte for example: 01010011
Each byte can represent the numbers from 0 all the way up to 255.

Usually we use hexadecimal to more easily manipulate code, as it can represent bytes as 2 digits instead of 8.

 

Hexadecimal Binary Decimal
0 0 0
1 1 1
2 10 2
3 11 3
4 100 4
5 101 5
6 110 6
7 111 7
8 1000 8
9 1001 9
A 1010 10
B 1011 11
C 1100 12
D 1101 13
E 1110 14
F 1111 15
10 10000 16
11 10001 17

 

 

 

(masks of the Reboot villain, Hexadecimal)