What is it, what is it for and what is the importance of the ASCII Code?

Have you ever wondered what it is, what it is for and what is the importance of the ASCII Code? Then you are in the right place, because we will talk in a simple but in-depth way about the so-called ASCII code.

You may not know this, but the ASCII code is very important for computing, so much so that it largely owes significant progress to computing as we know it today. Today we will talk about this code so relevant to what would later become the digital revolution.



On the other hand, before starting we recommend that you know the differences between the types of Hardware and Software, because today we will talk specifically about a section relating to software.


The language of computers

To understand the full extent of ASCII code, you need to understand how a computer works. Computers don't understand symbols or letters, can alone assimilate numbers and it is through them that we can show all the things we see on the screen.

This is where the so-called binary code is born, which becomes the fundamental basis of computer science and if you have any doubts you can learn about binary files with our guides. The truth is that through zeros and ones (0,1) characters, images, videos and even very complex video games and programs can be represented later.

It can be a little difficult to assimilate, but in fact everything we observe is based on this. Next come the so-called languages and codes of programming, which provide support to make systems much more complex. It is in this space that the so-called ASCII code is found.


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What is it, what is it for and what is the importance of the ASCII Code?

When we talk about ASCII code, we explicitly refer to the American Standard Code for Information Interchange, which would be translated as American Standard Code for Information Interchange. As the name suggests, this code is meant to be one standard for character representation.


What is ASCII code?

The ASCII code is based on the Latin alphabet, which is one of the most used in the world, in any case it is specifically focused on the English language, so some typical characters of the Spanish language are not represented, at least not in the first version of the code.

The ASCII code standard is based on a sistema a 7 bit, through which 95 characters to be printed and another 32 characters not to be printed are represented. The 95 characters mentioned above are the graphic representation of the English language inside our computers.

On the other hand, as we noted earlier, there are 32 other characters that cannot be printed, these arise from the need to perform certain actions that are not visible with a character. For example, a non-printing character would be the action of "Delete" and many other computer actions.

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Importance of the ASCII code

The ASCII code is able to represent characters of the English language, something essential in classical computers. This code was born in 1963 and has since pushed the development of information technology to what we know today.



There are several codes similar to this, which could be even more complete, as in the case of ISO / IEC 8859-1, with which multiple characters and therefore multiple languages ​​can be represented. In any case, the ASCII code, being the first internationally recognized standard, has promoted the emergence and standardization of information technology.



ISO / IEC 8859-1

ISO / IEC 8859-1 is an ISO (International Organization for Standardization or International Organization for Standardization) standard. The standard is related to the code of the Latin alphabet, but unlike the code ASCII, may include multiple characters found in other languages.


It is listed as an international standard and is capable of representing characters found in at least 19 languages. It contains 191 characters found in Latin languages ​​and is used as a standard in several countries around the world.

What we have outlined above is only part of how computers work. In addition to the above, if you are curious and want to learn how to program from your mobile, remember that we have guides on this.

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