Message

In terms of information theory a message is a basic quantity that will transport information. Messages will be send from an information source to a destination resulting in information at the receiver.

Considering information theory it is of importance that the contents of a message is finite; it must originate from a well defined range of values. Besides, a message has no meaning in a general sense, it is only able to transport a value.

With regards to files having an arbitrary contents a message is equivalent to the basic unit used for data access. That is commonly but not necessarily the byte. In this context a message is able to carry 1 of 256 values.

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