Storing Text (ASCII)
A code that represents text using numbers.
What is ASCII?
- ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange
- It’s a system that gives every keyboard character (letters, numbers, symbols) a unique code
- These codes are stored as binary numbers, so computers can understand and process text
How Does ASCII Work?
Each character you type is matched to a specific ASCII code
For example:
- The letter A has the ASCII code 65
- The letter B has the ASCII code 66
- The number 1 has the ASCII code 49
The ASCII code is then converted into binary so the computer can store it
| Character | ASCII Code | Binary |
|---|---|---|
| Space | 32 | 00100000 |
| ! | 33 | 00100001 |
| ... | ... | ... |
| 1 | 49 | 00110001 |
| ... | ... | ... |
| A | 65 | 01000001 |
| B | 66 | 01000010 |
Why is ASCII Important?
- It allows computers to represent and store text as numbers
- Without ASCII, computers wouldn’t know how to handle letters, numbers, and symbols
Key Points
- ASCII is used to store text
- ASCII assigns a unique code to each character
- These codes are converted into binary for computers to store and use