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 BINARYASCII   HEX  DECIMAL ASCIIBINARY   HEX  DECIMAL ASCII   HEX  DECIMAL ASCII   HEX  DECIMALASCII
0 0 00000000null32 50 20011001164 100 d96 150 –C8 200È
1 1 00000001soh33 51 30011010065 101 e97 151 —C9 201É
2 2 00000010stx34 52 40011010166 102 f98 152 ˜CA 202Ê
3 3 00000011etx35 53 50011011067 103 g99 153 ™CB 203Ë
4 4 00000100eot36 54 60011011168 104 h9A 154 šCC 204Ì
5 5 00000101enq37 55 70011110069 105 i9B 155 ›CD 205Í
6 6 00000110ack38 56 8001111016A 106 j9C 156 œCE 206Î
7 7 00000111bel39 57 9001111106B 107 k9D 157 CF 207Ï
8 8 00001000bs3A 58 :001111116C 108 l9E 158 žD0 208Ð
9 9 00001001tab3B 59 ;6D 109 m9F 159 ŸD1 209Ñ
A 10 00001010lf3C 60 <6E 110 nA0 160 D2 210Ò
B 11 00001011vt3D 61 =6F 111 oA1 161 ¡D3 211Ó
C 12 00001100ff3E 62 >70 112 pA2 162 ¢D4 212Ô
D 13 00001101cr3F 63 ?71 113 qA3 163 £D5 213Õ
E 14 00001110so40 64 @0100000072 114 rA4 164 ¤D6 214Ö
F 15 00001111si41 65 A73 115 sA5 165 ¥D7 215×
10 16 00010000dle42 66 B74 116 tA6 166 ¦D8 216Ø
11 17 00010001dc143 67 C75 117 uA7 167 §D9 217Ù
12 18 00010010dc244 68 D76 118 vA8 168 ¨DA 218Ú
13 19 00010011dc345 69 E77 119 wA9 169 ©DB 219Û
14 20 00010100dc446 70 F78 120 xAA 170 ªDC 220Ü
15 21 00010101nak47 71 G79 121 yAB 171 «DD 221Ý
16 22 00010110syn48 72 H7A 122 zAC 172 ¬DE 222Þ
17 23 00010111etb49 73 I7B 123 {AD 173 DF 223ß
18 24 00011000can4A 74 J7C 124 |AE 174 ®E0 224à
19 25 00011001em4B 75 K7D 125 }AF 175 ¯E1 225á
1A2600011010sub4C76L7E126~B0176°E2226â
1B 27 00011011esc4D 77 M7F 127 delB1 177 ±E3 227ã
1C 28 00011100fs4E 78 N80 128 €B2 178 ²E4 228ä
1D 29 00011101gs4F 79 O81 129 B3 179 ³E5 229å
1E 30 00011110rs50 80 P82 130 ,B4 180 ´E6 230æ
1F 31 00011111us51 81 Q83 131 ƒB5 181 µE7 231ç
20 32 00100000space52 82 R84 132 „B6 182 E8 232è
21 33 00100001!53 83 S85 133 …B7 183 ·E9 233é
22 34 00100010"54 84 T86 134 †B8 184 ¸EA 234ê
23 35 00100011#55 85 U87 135 ‡B9 185 ¹EB 235ë
24 36 00100100$56 86 V88 136 ˆBA 186 ºEC 236ì
25 37 00100101%57 87 W89 137 ‰BB 187 »ED 237í
26 38 00100111&58 88 X8A 138 ŠBC 188 ¼EE 238î
27 39 00101000'59 89 Y8B 139 ‹BD 189 ½EF 239ï
28 40 00101001(5A 90 Z8C 140 ŒBE 190 ¾F0 240ð
29 41 00101010)5B 91 [8D 141 BF 191 ¿F1 241ñ
2A 42 00101011*5C 92 \8E 142 ŽC0 192 ÀF2 242ò
2B 43 00101100+5D 93 ]8F 143 C1 193 ÁF3 243ó
2C 44 00101101,5E 94 ^90 144 C2 194 ÂF4 244ô
2D 45 00101110-5F 95 _91 145 ‘C3 195 ÃF5 245õ
2E 46 00101111.60 96 `92 146 ’C4 196 ÄF6 246ö
2F 47 00110000/61 97 a93 147 “C5 197 ÅF7 247÷
30 48 00110001062 98 b94 148 ”C6 198 ÆF8 248ø
31 49 00110010163 99 c95 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)