Text Encoding


Every computer ever made has had some method of displaying and encoding text. A computer doesn't recognize the letter 'A' in its microprocessor; everything within the computer is dealt with using hexadecimal bytes like 00, F1, and AC. In order for the computer to be able to translate these hexadecimal numbers into letters and numbers that you and I read, a conversion table is used. There will usually be 255 possible entries within a table since bytes only go up to FF (255 in decimal numbers). But, usually only about 1/2 of them are used, since alphabets hardly take up 255 slots. For IBM compatible computers, the table standard has been known as 'ASCII'.

Within the ASCII table, hexadecimal number $41 (hexadecimal numbers are usually denoted with a $ in front of them) represents the letter 'A'. From then on, $42 stands for 'B', $43 for 'C', etc... up to 'Z'. The lower case letters start at $61 ($61 for 'a'). Also, the characters '0..9' are represented by $30 to $39. The other bytes consist of less common characters such as the 1/2 symbol (½), the copyright symbol (©), and the asterisk (*). Also, some of them are used for control codes like $07, which is reserved for the system beep you hear when you turn on your computer.

Not all computers use the ASCII standard. The Macintosh does not use the ASCII standard, and neither do gaming consoles.

Certain platforms, after encoding the alphabet, numbers, and punctuation use what is left of the 255 possible table entries as DTE (Dual Tile Encoding) and MTE (Multiple Tile Encoding) values.