Digitization is born from the replacement of analog.
What is the difference between a digital signal and an analog signal?
An analog signal is a continuous signal that can take any value.
The digital signal is a discontinuous signal, made of 1 and 0.
Thus, as shown in this diagram by Mathilde Glénat and Delphine Chareyron of the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon :
The principle is as follows: letters, numbers, images or sounds are transformed into electrical impulses, themselves translatable into the form of 0 and 1. This digitization is therefore binary.
Some stages of this digitization:
1966: Arpanet is launched (first packet transfer network by the Department of Defense in the United States)
1970’s: digitization applied to telephony
1980’s: digitization of sounds, music and images
1980’s : diffusion of the personal computer
1983 : official birth of the Internet
1990’s : digital convergence of computer science, telecommunications, and audiovisual.
around 1995 : digital radiotelephone
around 1996 : digital networks
