EBCDIC Code and ASCII Code

This article was written and distributed with the intention of describing the two codes that are considered to be the most significant when discussing computer science and engineering. These two codes, known as EBCDIC and ASCII, are likely to become familiar to you the most when you are working in the field of computers.

EBCDIC Code

Since the Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange, or EBCDIC, code is an 8-bit code, this indicates that there are 2⁸ = 256 different methods to represent numerals, alphabets, and other special symbols.

In addition, the parity bits are utilized by the system. EBCDIC is a code that uses 8 bits, however it can be split into two sets of 4 bits each. Each of these four-bit groups, which are represented by a number system called hexadecimal, is utilized by computers, which use EBCDIC for internal character representation, as sorting notation for memory dumps. This resulted in a reduction in the volume of memory dumps of somewhere between one and four years' worth.

The EBCDIC code is an example of a non-ASCII code, which is another name for it. The operating systems of IBM mainframes and midrange computers are the primary environments in which this code is executed.

EBCDIC characters include but are not limited to the following: NUL, ETX, STX, DEL, CR, SOS, BYP, !, ), /, %, >, #, a, b, c, a, b, c, a, b, c, 2, 4, and 4, etc.

ASCII Code

ASCII, which stands for the American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a code that can be used to represent numbers, alphabets, and other special symbols.

The leftmost bit in the ASCII code is not utilized to represent characters; rather, it serves the purpose of a parity check and is referred to as the cheek bit. Each digit that makes up a numeric value is stored in its own individual byte. This code is widely used in data communication; it is nearly always found in larger computers manufactured by certain manufacturers; and almost all of the time, it is the only method used to represent data on the inside of microprocessors.

In a nutshell, ASCII codes are what computers and other electronic devices use to represent the text they're working with.

ASCII characters include, but are not limited to, the following: NUL, ESC, space, !, #, &, (, 0, 3, 4, a, b, c, A, B, C, ), and DEL etc.

While you are working on the computer, let me tell you the ASCII value of a few of the most well-known and frequently used characters. The range of values for a-z in ASCII is 97-122, while the range for A-Z is 65-90, and the range for 0-9 is 48-57.

To put that another way, the value of the letter "A" in ASCII is 65. In a similar vein, the value of "B" in ASCII is "66." In a manner analogous to this, the ASCII value of the number 8 is 56.

Types of ASCII Code

ASCII is of two types:

1. ASCII-7
2. ASCII-8

The first three bits of an ASCII-7 code are known as zone bits, and the remaining bits represent the values of the digits.The latest version of ASCII is known as ASCII-8, that is, an 8-bit code in which 256 characters can be encoded.

In ASCII-8, the first four bits are known as zone bits, and the rest four bits represent digit values.

Computer Fundamentals Quiz

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