Decoding ASCII: Understanding the Character Encoding Standard with Examples

Introduction

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) is a character encoding standard used in computers and digital communication. It assigns unique numeric values to characters, making it possible to represent and exchange text and symbols in a standardized way. In this blog post, we will explore ASCII code, how it works, and provide examples in a table view for better understanding.

What is ASCII Code?

ASCII code uses 7 bits (8th bit is not used for character representation) to represent characters, including letters, digits, punctuation marks, and control characters. Each character is assigned a specific decimal value between 0 and 127.

ASCII Code Example

Let's see an example of some ASCII characters and their corresponding decimal and binary representations in the table below:

Character	ASCII	Binary
Space	32	00100000
A	65	01000001
a	97	01100001
0	48	00110000
%	37	00100101

Conclusion

ASCII code is a foundational concept in computer systems, enabling the representation and communication of text and symbols. Understanding how ASCII assigns numeric values to characters and how it is represented in binary is essential for various computing applications and digital communication protocols.