Encoding Text

Everything on a computer must be turned into binary code in order to be stored or processed, including text.

One of the early agreed formats for storing text was using the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII).

In the early days of computing, computers were rare and were purpose built, usually for companies and universities. Each of these computers would have it's own way of working, but by agreeing a common way for storing text in binary code it allowed for information to be shared.

ASCII works by turning letters into numbers and then the numbers into binary.

It was decided that each letter would be given (originally seven and now) eight bits (or one byte) for storage. This gave the possibility of 256 characters to be coded. Characters not only included letters, but punctuation, various other symbols and print commands.

The Table on the right shows what numbers each letter is given.

Notice capital letters have different numbers to lowercase letters!