Character encoding
What does Character encoding mean?
Definition
Character encoding is the process of mapping characters, such as letters, symbols, and emoji, to numerical values, known as code points, so that they can be stored and processed by computers. Character encoding is necessary because computers work with binary data, but humans work with characters and text. A character encoding standard such as Unicode defines the mapping between characters and their corresponding code points, providing a universal representation for text data.
The use of character encoding ensures that text is consistently represented and processed across platforms and applications, enabling the exchange of text data between systems. Different character encoding standards have been developed over time, each with its own strengths and limitations. However, Unicode has become the most widely used character encoding standard, as it supports a wide range of scripts and characters from around the world. Unicode's ability to represent multiple languages and scripts in a single encoding standard makes it an ideal choice for the global and multilingual computing industry.
In short, character encoding is an essential part of the computing industry, providing a standard way of representing text data in computers and enabling the exchange of text data between systems and applications.