ASCII is a character encoding standard used to represent text in computers and other devices that use digital communication. The ASCII code of a keyboard is the specific set of numerical codes assigned to each key on a standard keyboard. In this article, we will explore the history of ASCII, how it relates to the keyboard, how it has evolved over time, and how to use the ASCII code for a keyboard.
History of ASCII
The history of ASCII dates back to the 1960s when the American Standards Association (ASA) created a committee to develop a standard for character encoding. The goal was to create a universal code that could be used by all computers and devices that communicate with each other. The committee eventually came up with the ASCII standard in 1963, which included a set of 128 characters, each represented by a 7-bit binary code. The ASCII code included uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and some control codes.
The ASCII standard quickly gained popularity and was adopted by many manufacturers of computers and other devices. It became the de facto standard for text encoding, and it was used for many years in most computer systems. However, as technology evolved, the limitations of ASCII became apparent. One of the main limitations was its limited character set, which made it difficult to represent characters from other languages and scripts.
Extended ASCII
To address the limitations of ASCII, a number of extended ASCII standards were developed. These standards included additional characters beyond the 128 characters in the original ASCII code. One of the most popular extended ASCII standards was the ISO 8859 standard, which included additional characters for European languages, such as accented characters, as well as characters from other scripts, such as Greek and Cyrillic.
Another extended ASCII standard was the Windows-1252 codepage, which was developed by Microsoft for use in the Windows operating system. The Windows-1252 codepage included additional characters beyond ISO 8859, such as some additional punctuation marks and symbols. However, the Windows-1252 codepage was not a standard, and it was not widely used outside of the Windows operating system.
Unicode
In the 1990s, a new standard called Unicode was developed to address the limitations of ASCII and extended ASCII. Unicode is a universal character encoding standard that includes characters from all languages and scripts in use today. Unicode uses a variable-length encoding, which means that each character can be represented by a variable number of bytes, depending on its code point. Unicode also includes a wide range of characters beyond the basic Latin alphabet, such as characters from Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and many other scripts.
Unicode is now the de facto standard for text encoding, and it is used in most modern computer systems and devices. Many programming languages, such as Java and Python, natively support Unicode, and many operating systems, such as macOS and Linux, use Unicode as their default encoding.
ASCII Code of a Keyboard
The ASCII code of a keyboard refers to the specific set of numerical codes assigned to each key on a standard keyboard. Each key on a keyboard is assigned a unique ASCII code, which represents a character, such as a letter, number, or symbol.
Here is a table showing the ASCII codes for some commonly used keys on a standard keyboard:
A 65
B 66
C 67
D 68
E 69
F 70
G 71
H 72
I 73
J 74
K 75
L 76
M 77
N 78
O 79
P 80
Q 81
R 82
S 83
T 84
U 85
V 86
W 87
X 88
Y 89
Z 90
0 48
1 49
2 50
3 51
4 52
5 53
6 54
7 55
8 56
9 57
Space 32
Enter 13
Shift 16
Ctrl 17
Alt 18
Tab 9
Backspace 8
Escape 27
How to Type Special ASCII Characters Using the Keyboard?
To type special ASCII characters using your keyboard, you can use a combination of keys known as “keyboard shortcuts” or “alt codes.” Here are the steps to type special ASCII characters using keyboard shortcuts:
Ensure that the “Num Lock” key is turned on if you are using a keyboard with a numeric keypad.
Hold down the “Alt” key on your keyboard.
While holding down the “Alt” key, use the numeric keypad to type the corresponding ASCII code for the special character you want to type. For example, to type the degree symbol (°), you would hold down “Alt” and type “0176” on the numeric keypad.
Release the “Alt” key to display the special character.
Note that not all keyboards have a numeric keypad, so you may need to use the “Fn” key or a different combination of keys to access the numeric keypad on your keyboard. Additionally, not all ASCII characters can be typed using keyboard shortcuts, so you may need to use character map or other special tools to access certain characters.
How to Use the ASCII Code
– Inputting special characters: Many special characters, such as accented letters, currency symbols, and mathematical symbols, are not included on a standard keyboard. However, these characters can be inputted by typing the corresponding ASCII code using the numeric keypad. For example, the ASCII code for the Euro symbol (€) is 128, so to input this symbol, you would hold down the Alt key and type 128 on the numeric keypad.
– Converting text to ASCII: The ASCII code can be used to convert text to a series of numbers that can be easily manipulated by computer programs. For example, the word “hello” can be converted to the ASCII code 104 101 108 108 111, which represents the numerical value of each character in the word.
– Performing operations on text: The ASCII code can be used to perform various operations on text, such as sorting, searching, and comparing. For example, by converting text to its ASCII code, you can sort a list of words alphabetically based on their numerical value.
– Communicating between devices: When devices communicate with each other, they often use the ASCII code to represent text. For example, when you send an email or text message, the text is first converted to its ASCII code before being sent over the internet.