ECNetTools Suite — Calculators for Computer Science
A set of support tools covering data representation, networking and computer arithmetic.
The four tools
⇄ Unit Converter
Converts data quantities between SI units (decimal, base 10: kB, MB, GB…) and IEC units (binary, base 2: KiB, MiB, GiB…). The result also shows the formula applied — useful for understanding why a 1 GB file appears as ~953 MiB in the operating system.
| Standard | Base | Example |
|---|---|---|
| SI (NIST) | 10 | 1 GB = 10⁹ B |
| IEC 80000-13 | 2 | 1 GiB = 2³⁰ B |
⏱ Download Time
Calculates the time required to transfer a file given its size and connection speed. The Calculation steps panel shows every step:
- Convert the file size to bits
- Convert the speed to bits/s
- Divide
bits ÷ bps = seconds
Watch the speed unit: ISPs advertise bandwidth in Mbps (megabits), not MB/s (megabytes). The factor of 8 is a frequent source of confusion.
01 Bases & Encodings
Converts an integer between decimal and binary using three encodings compared side by side, on a configurable N bits width:
| Encoding | Description |
|---|---|
| Sign & Magnitude | MSB = sign bit; magnitude in the remaining bits |
| Two’s Complement | Standard used by all modern CPUs |
| Excess-K (Bias) | Value shifted by K; used for the exponent in IEEE 754 |
The reverse mode (Bin → Dec) decodes a binary string in all three representations.
∿ IEEE 754 (single precision, 32 bit)
Breaks down a decimal number into its 32-bit float representation according to the IEEE 754 standard, showing:
- Sign bit (1 bit)
- Biased exponent (8 bits, excess-127)
- Mantissa (23 bits, fractional part of the normalised form 1.xxx)
- Hexadecimal equivalent (32 bits)
The steps panel guides through the normalisation of the number and the application of the bias.