Question

Difference between flip flops and latches

Answer 1

The basic difference is a gating or clocking mechanism. For example, let us talk about SR latch and SR flip-flops.



In the circuit when you Set S as active the output Q would be high and Q' will be low. This is irrespective of anything else. (This is an active low circuit so active here means low, but for an active high circuit active would mean high)

In the circuit the output is changed (i.e. the stored data is changed) only when you give a active clock signal. Otherwise, even if the S or R is active the data will not change. This mechanism is used to synchronize circuits and registers so that the data does not change unnecessarily.