Competency level: 2.

3 Describes different character representation and their usage

Time: 1 period

Learning outcomes:
 Briefly describes the need for encoding systems in computer
 Explains and compares ASCII and Unicode encoding systems
Contents:
 Encoding systems used in computers
 ASCII
 UNICODE

Concepts and terms to be highlighted:

 Need of encoding systems
 Use of ASCII and UNICODE encoding systems

Guidance for lesson plans:

 Explanation of ASCII code with word processor (example: type 65 with Alter key
for letter “A”)
 Explanation of UNICODE and show the use of Sinhala or Tamil Unicode to
extend the standard symbols

Quality inputs:

 Computers with Sinhala and Tamil language kit (IME)

Documents in Sinhala/Tamil

Guidance for assessments and evaluations:

 Ask students to convert given words into ASCII code
 Provide exercise on (Sinhala or Tamil) typing using Unicode

Reading materials
Number system: A system that naming or representing numbers is known as
Number System.
Some number systems related with computer
 Decimal
 Binary
 Hexadecimal

29
 Symbols of number system
Number Base value Number of Symbols
system symbols
Decimal 10 10 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
Binary 2 2 0,1
Hexadecimal 16 16 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E,F
 The total number of symbols in a number system is called its base value

Place value:
Example 1: In 2432, the 3 is in the "ten’s" place, where the place value is ten.
Therefore, 3 represents the value 30.

Thousands Place
2432 One’s Place

Hundred’s Place Ten’s Place

Eg. Decimal numbers are 'base-10 numbers therefore the place value of each digit is
a power of 10. Consider decimal number 2432:

Number 2 4 3 2 Represented Value

Place Value 103 102 101 100

2×1 = 2

3×10 = 30

4×100 = 400

2×1000 = 2000

In Binary Number System: 2432

 Each bit in the binary system has a place value. Binary is a base-2 number
system, therefore the place value of each bit is the power of two.

e.g. Consider binary number 11101:

Number 1 1 1 0 1
24 23 22 21 20
Place value
16 8 4 2 1

30
In hexadecimal Number System:
 Each digit in the hexadecimal system has a place value. Hexadecimal is a base-
16 number system, therefore the place value of each digit is the power of 16.

Eg. Consider Hexadecimal number 3B2C:

Number 3 B 2 C
163 162 161 160
Place value
4096 256 16 1

Number Conversions
Decimal to Binary

e.g. Convert decimal number 25 to binary:

31
 Binary to Decimal

Eg. 110112

1 1 0 1 1

1X1 =1
1X2 =2
0X4 =0
1X8 =8
1 X 16 = 16

Answer : 11011 = 27

Boolean Operators
 AND
 OR
 NOT

AND Operator
Used to perform a logical conjunction on two Boolean expressions.
Truth table of AND operation (Two Inputs)

Inputs Output(Result)
A B (A AND B) / (A.B)
0 0 0
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 1

OR Operator
Used to perform a logical disjunction on two expressions.
Truth table of OR operation
Inputs Output(Result)
A B (A+B)
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 1

32
NOT Operator
Used to perform logical negation on an expression

Truth table of NOT operation

Input Output(Result)
A (A)’
0 1
1 0

NOT operator that gives 0 as the output when input is 1 and vice versa.

Truth Tables for given Boolean expressions

Example: F= (A+B) .(A’.B)+(A+B)’

Assume Variables A and B are inputs and final output is stored in variable F
Inputs Intermediate combinations Final Output (F)
A B A’ (A’.B) (A+B) (A+B)’ (A’.B)+(A+B)’ (A+B).(A’.B)+(A+B)’
0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0
0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1
1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0

Need for encoding systems in computer

 A bit is the smallest unit used to represent characters, images, audio and video in
a computer system.
 A bit can either be a 1 or a 0
 This means that with a single bit, only 2 different symbols can be represented.
 By using ‘n’ bits, a maximum of 2n unique bit combinations can be obtained.

ASCII encoding System:

 ASCII is an eight bits encoding system.
 Using ASCII, a maximum of 256 symbols can be represented uniquely.
 Every single character in the keyboard has an associated ASCII code.
 ASCII code of character A- 01000001
UNICODE
 Since ASCII is an eight bit code, a maximum of 256 characters can be
represented uniquely.
 When it comes to international languages there is a need for a bigger coding
system to represent the characters of these languages.
 Unicode is a sixteen bit encoding system Therefore it is used to represent a
maximum of 65536 (216) characters uniquely.
 Unicode of Character අ - 0000 1101 1000 0101
 Unicode of Character அ - 0101 1000 1011 0000

33