Using binary codes to represent characters
Introduction
Computer systems use binary. If they are to work on data, we need to get the data into a binary form or binary code. If different computer systems are to be able to communicate, then the binary code that one computer uses has to be the same as the binary code a different computer uses.
Binary codes
Every time you press a key on your keyboard, whether it is a capital letter or a small one, a number, a symbol, a space or punctuation mark, it gets converted into a byte, an 8 bit binary code. For example:
-
- the binary code for the capital K letter is 0100 1011 or 4B in hex or 75 in decimal.
- the binary code for the little letter t is 0111 0100 or 74 in hex or 116 in decimal.
- the binary code for the exclamation mark is 0010 0001 or 21 in hex 33 in decimal.
If a piece of data is in binary then the computer can process it. In addition, if a computer uses the same codes as other computers then they can communicate with each other successfully. One possible set of character codes used by most English using computers is called the ASCII character set. you can see the decimal codes for each character or code in the table below.
