Topic 5 - Information coding systems Flashcards
1
Q
What is character encoding?
A
When a character is pressed on a keyboard, a binary code for that character is input into the computer.
2
Q
How can characters be encoded?
A
Characters can be encoded into either ASCII or Unicode
3
Q
What is the main limitation of ASCII?
A
It cannot represent large character sets
4
Q
What bit is ASCII?
A
7 bit
5
Q
What bit is Unicode?
A
16 bit
6
Q
What is a disadvantage of Unicode?
A
It uses 2 bytes per character compared to ASCII which only uses 1. Therefore Unicode uses more storage space
