The different bit group sizes each have names. A group of 8 bits we call a byte . Computers operate by moving bits and groups of bits around and execute instructions that tell the computer what to do with these bits and groups of bits. The instructions that a computer executes are from computer programs. When we talk about computers processing data, we mean that a computer reads instructions from a computer program along with the data that the instructions operate on, and executes each instruction one at a time until the program is finished.
Instructions usually tell the computer to operate on specific pieces of data.
For example, an add instruction tells the processor to add two numbers that have been retrieved from memory and then place the result in some other area of memory. You can probably see by now how decimal numbers like 237 can be represented by strings of 0's and 1's. To store text data, the computer has to refer to a table that lists all the letters of the alphabet, upper and lower case, as well as punctuation marks and a few other special characters called control characters . For each text character there is a corresponding binary number that codes for that particular character. The binary numbers in this table are 7-bits long, which means they can code a maximum of 128 different characters.