Computer Studies Made Simple : Types of Data encoding in computers:

Types of Data encoding in computers:

In Computers,data is mainly represented and stored in a binary form and in the form of binary digits.

This means that any data that reaches the computer is converted into a binary form before storage.

This process is called as Encoding

Types of Encoding Techniques:

Following are different types of encoding techniques used by computers:

1.BCD Coding:

This is abbreviation for Binary Coded Decimal

This is a 4 bit code in which every decimal digit is represented by 4 binary digits.

This code was used in early computers.

Decimal Digit	BCD 8 4 2 1
0	0 0 0 0
1	0 0 0 1
2	0 0 1 0
3	0 0 1 1
4	0 1 0 0
5	0 1 0 1
6	0 1 1 0
7	0 1 1 1
8	1 0 0 0
9	1 0 0 1

2. EBCDIC Code:

This is an abbreviation for Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code

This is an 8 bit code which is divided in two groups of 4 bits.

It can represent 256 characters.

It is usally used in Mainframe computers.



3.ASCII:

This is an abbreviation for American Standard Code for Information Interchange.

This is the most common set of encoding characters.

It is a standardized set of encoding characters and was developed by American National Standard Institute in 1968.

In this methid, the 7 bit code can represent 128 characters and 8 bit code can represent 256 characters.



4.Unicode:

This is a 16 bit code.

It can represent 65536 characters.

It is a very versatile code that can represent characters of all languages in the world