What is ASCII, and what does it encode?

• A. American Standard Code for Information Interchange; encodes basic English characters and control codes.
• B. Advanced Standard Coding for Internal Use; encodes binary data.
• C. American System for Internet Communications; encodes URLs.
• D. Automated Symbol Code for Interchange; encodes image data.

Answer: (A)

ASCII is a character encoding standard that assigns numeric values to basic English letters, digits, punctuation, and a set of control codes used to manage text formatting and device control. It originally uses 7 bits per character, giving 128 possible codes: 33 non-printing control codes (like NUL, LF, CR) and 95 printable characters (the letters, digits, and punctuation you see on a keyboard). This mapping lets computers store and transmit text consistently across different systems. An extended version adds more characters with 8 bits, but the essential idea remains: it encodes plain English text and control actions, not images, URLs, or arbitrary binary data. The correct description names the American Standard Code for Information Interchange and notes that it encodes basic English characters and control codes.