Computers: The Past, Present, and Future -- Present

Computers: Present: Tutorial

ASCII

ASCII, American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is the standard for data interchange across computer systems and programs. Most programs can accept ASCII and produce ASCII data. ASCII characters are stored in 7 bits of space. Each individual character represents a number to the computer. ASCII is used to compose entire files, called ASCII files. Translated to more modern terms, a text file.

Note: Some rather large character sets use 8 bits. These extra characters are used to represent non-English characters i.e. graphics and symbols.

A breakdown of ASCII

(0-31)

The first 32 ASCII characters are called control characters. They are used to tell output devices (printers and display) what to do. For example, carriage return and end of line signals are common examples of the control characters.

(32-64)

The second group of characters is used to represent various punctuation symbols, special characters, and numerical digits.

(65-90)

The third group is used to represent upper case alphabet letters ("A...Z"). And then, a few are for special symbols.

(91-128)

The fourth group is used for the lower case alphabet symbols.

In Windows 95/98, you can determine the numerical representation for different fonts on your computer using Character map. It is located in Start-->Programs-->Accessories-->Character Map. If the program is not there, goto Start-->Settings-->Control Panel-->Add Remove Programs-->Windows Setup (TAB).
Done with Data are we? I am impressed. It is time to tidy up and finish the interface section where you left off. Please do so with the BIOS.

All material and images on these pages are copyright Joseph,Ed. This page was developed for the Thinkquest1999 competition.