Difference Between Binary and ASCII
Difference Between Binary and ASCII
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Binary vs ASCII
Binary code is a method used in computers and digital devices, to represent and transfer text, symbols, or processor
instructions. Since computers and digital devices perform their fundamental operations based on two voltage values
(High or Low), every bit of data involved with a process has to be converted into that form. The ideal method for
accomplishing this task is to represent the data in the binary numeral system, which includes only two digits, 1 and 0.
For example, with every keystroke on your keyboard, it produces a string of 1`s and 0`s, which is unique for each
character and sends it as the output. The process of converting data into binary code is called as encoding. Many
encoding methods are used in computing and telecommunications.
ASCII, which stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a standard encoding for
alphanumeric characters used in computers and related devices. ASCII was introduced by the United States of
America Standards Institute (USASI) now known as the American National Standards Institute.
Many encoding methods exist with different lengths of binary strings, of which some have constant length and the
others variable length. A few of binary codes with constant bit strings are ASCII, extended ASCII, UTF-2, and UTF-
32. UTF-16 and UTF-8 are variable length binary codes. Both Huffman encoding and Morse code can also be
considered as variable length binary codes.
ASCII includes, primarily, two types of characters, which are control characters (represented by 0-31 decimal and
127decimal) and printable characters (represented by 32- 126 decimal). For example, control key delete is given the
value 127decimal which is represented by 1111111. The character a, which is given the value 97decimal,is
represented by 1100001. ASCII can represent letters in both cases, numbers, symbols, and control keys.
• Binary code can have different lengths for encoding depending on the number of characters, instructions, or the
encoding method, but ASCII uses only 7 digits long binary string and 8 digits long for extended ASCII.