ASCII encodes characters into binary form from "summary" of Code by Charles Petzold
ASCII, which stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard that represents text in computers. The basic idea behind ASCII is quite simple: it encodes characters into binary form. In other words, it assigns a unique binary code to each character, allowing computers to store and manipulate text data. To understand how ASCII works, we need to delve into the realm of binary numbers. In the binary number system, each digit can have one of two values: 0 or 1. By combining these digits, we can represent numbers, characters, and all sorts of data. ASCII takes advantage of this binary representation to encode characters. Each character in ASCII is represented by a unique 7-bit binary code. This means that there are 128 possible characters that can be encoded in ASCII. These characters include letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and control characters. By using 7 bits for each character, ASCII strikes a balance between efficiency and versatility. When a computer receives a text input, it translates each character into its corresponding ASCII code. For example, the letter 'A' is represented by the binary code 01000001 in ASCII. This binary code is stored in the computer's memory and can be manipulated by various software programs. By encoding characters into binary form, ASCII allows computers to process text data in a standardized way. It provides a common language for representing characters, regardless of the specific hardware or software being used. This universal character encoding has played a crucial role in the development of modern computing systems.- ASCII encodes characters into binary form, allowing computers to store, manipulate, and communicate text data efficiently. This simple yet powerful concept forms the foundation of how computers handle text information, enabling seamless communication and data processing.
