1.2 · Lesson 1 of 3
Character sets
Syllabus 1.2.1
What this lesson covers
- Explain how and why text is stored using character sets, including ASCII and Unicode
Key vocabulary
- UTF-8
- A common way of storing Unicode characters, using 8 to 32 bits per character.
- Character set
- A list of all the characters a computer can represent, each with its own binary code.
- ASCII
- American Standard Code for Information Interchange: a character set using 7 or 8 bits per character.
- Extended ASCII
- 8-bit ASCII, which can represent 256 characters.
- Unicode
- A character set that uses up to 32 bits per character, so it can represent other languages and emojis.
- Character code
- The number that represents a character, e.g. H is 72.
- Byte
- 8 bits: the amount of storage one extended ASCII character takes up.
Check your learning
- Quick check: 4 questions
- Key vocabulary test: 7 terms
- Activity 1: ASCII codes · 8 questions
- Activity 2: ASCII and Unicode quiz · 8 questions
- Activity 3: ASCII or Unicode? · drag and drop