Data Representation

Definition of Data Representation:

Data representation is the way in which information or data is encoded and stored in a format that computers can understand and manipulate. Since computers work with binary systems (1s and 0s), data from the real world needs to be translated into these binary values for processing. Data representation encompasses various methods and techniques to represent different types of data, including numbers, text, images, audio, and more.

Table of Contents

2. Description of Data Representation Methods:

1. Bits: The fundamental unit of data representation is the bit, which can hold a value of either 0 or 1. It’s the building block of all digital information.
2. BCD (Binary Coded Decimal): BCD is a method to represent decimal numbers using a binary code. In BCD, each decimal digit (0-9) is represented by a four-bit binary code. For example, the decimal number 123 would be represented as 0001 0010 0011 in BCD.
3. EBCDIC (Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code): EBCDIC is an encoding scheme used to represent characters, including letters, numbers, and symbols, in computers. It was mainly used by IBM in their mainframe systems. Each character is assigned an 8-bit binary code.
4. ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange): ASCII is a widely used character encoding standard that represents characters using a 7-bit binary code. It includes codes for uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation marks, control characters, and more. ASCII has been a foundation for many modern character encoding standards.

Display Character Set – ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange):

ASCII is a character encoding standard that assigns unique numerical values to various characters used in the English language and some control characters. The ASCII standard uses 7 bits to represent each character, allowing for a total of 128 possible characters. The ASCII character set includes:

Uppercase letters (A-Z)
Lowercase letters (a-z)
Digits (0-9)
Punctuation marks (e.g., !, ?, &, %)
Control characters (e.g., newline, tab, carriage return)
Special characters (e.g., $, #, @)

These characters are assigned specific numeric values, which are then represented in binary form. For example, the ASCII value for the uppercase letter ‘A’ is 65, which in binary is 01000001. This binary value is what computers use to internally represent and process the character ‘A’.

Data representation methods like bits, BCD, EBCDIC, and ASCII are crucial for enabling computers to handle various types of data in a standardized and consistent manner. ASCII, in particular, provides a way to represent characters in a format that is widely understood and used across different computing systems.