Coding schemes are standards that computers use to convert and represent data in a format they can understand, such as binary digits (1's and 0's). Since computers cannot interpret human- readable characters like letters, numbers, and symbols directly, they need to translate this data into a machine- readable format. Different coding schemes are used for this purpose, among then ASCII and Unicode are common.
Why Coding Schemes are used
Data Representation: Computers use binary (0s and 1s) to represent all data. Coding schemes map human- readable characters to binary codes, making it possible for computers to store and manipulate text and other data.
Standardization: Coding schemes provide a consistent way to represent characters across different platforms and devices, ensuring compatibility and accurate data exchange.
Efficiency: They optimize the storage and processing of data by providing a fixed- length binary representation for each character.
Communication: They enable different computer systems to communicate with each other by using a common representation for characters and symbols.
ASCII Coding Scheme
ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. It is a standard data coding scheme in computers. It assigns standard numeric values to alphabets, numerals, punctuation marks and other characters used in computers. Before ASCII was developed, different makes and models of computers could not communicate with one another. Each computer manufacturer represented alphabets, numerals and other characters in its own way.