Computer
Codes
Learning Objectives
In this chapter you will learn about:
Computer data
Computer codes: representation of data in binary
Most commonly used computer codes
Collating sequence
Page 2 Computer Codes
Data Types
Numeric Data consists of only numbers 0, 1, 2, …, 9
Alphabetic Data consists of only the letters A, B, C,
…, Z, in both uppercase and lowercase, and blank
character
Alphanumeric Data is a string of symbols where a
symbol may be one of the letters A, B, C, …, Z, in
either uppercase or lowercase, or one of the digits 0,
1, 2, …, 9, or a special character, such as + - * / , . (
) = etc.
Page 3 Computer Codes
Computer Codes
Computer codes are used for internal representation of
data in computers
As computers use binary numbers for internal
representation, computer data codesusebinary
schemes coding
In binary coding, every symbol that appears in the data
is represented by a group of bits
The group of bits used to represent a symbol is called a
byte
Page 4 Computer Codes
Computer Codes
As most modern coding schemes use 8 bits to represent
a symbol, the term byte is often used to mean a group
of 8 bits
Commonly used computer codes are BCD, EBCDIC, and
ASCII
Page 5 Chapter 4: Computer Codes
BCD
BCD stands for Binary Coded Decimal
It is one of the early computer codes
It uses 6 bits to represent a symbol
It can represent 64 (26) different characters
Page 6 Computer Codes
Coding of Alphabetic and Numeric
Characters in BCD
BCD Code Octal BCD Code Octal
Char Char Zone Digit
Zone Digit
A 11 0001 61 N 10 0101 45
B 11 0010 62 O 10 0110 46
C 11 0011 63 P 10 0111 47
D 11 0100 64 Q 10 1000 50
E 11 0101 65 R 10 1001 51
F 11 0110 66 S 01 0010 22
G 11 0111 67 T 01 0011 23
H 11 1000 70 U 01 0100 24
I 11 1001 71 V 01 0101 25
J 10 0001 41 W 01 0110 26
K 10 0010 42 X 01 0111 27
L 10 0011 43 Y 01 1000 30
M 10 0100 44 Z 01 1001 31
Page 7 Computer Codes
Coding of Alphabetic and Numeric
Characters in BCD
BCD Code Octal
Character Zone Digit Equivalent
1 00 0001 01
2 00 0010 02
3 00 0011 03
4 00 0100 04
5 00 0101 05
6 00 0110 06
7 00 0111 07
8 00 1000 10
9 00 1001 11
0 00 1010 12
Page 8 Computer Codes
BCD Coding Scheme (Example 1)
Example
Show the binary digits used to record the word BASE in BCD
Solution:
B = 110010 in BCD binary notation
A = 110001 in BCD binary notation
S = 010010 in BCD binary notation
E = 110101 in BCD binary notation
So the binary digits
110010 110001 010010 110101
B A S E
will record the word BASE in BCD
Page 9 Computer Codes
BCD Coding Scheme (Example 2)
Example
Using octal notation, show BCD coding for the word DIGIT
Solution:
D = 64 in BCD octal notation
I = 71 in BCD octal notation
G = 67 in BCD octal notation
I = 71 in BCD octal notation
T = 23 in BCD octal notation
Hence, BCD coding for the word DIGIT in octal notation
will be
64 71 67 71 23
D I G I T
Page 10 Computer Codes
EBCDIC
EBCDIC stands for Extended Binary Coded Decimal
Interchange Code
It uses 8 bits to represent a symbol
It can represent 256 (28) different characters
Page 11 Computer Codes
Coding of Alphabetic and Numeric
Characters in EBCDIC
EBCDIC Code EBCDIC Code
Hex Hex
Char Digit Zone Char
Digit Zone
A 1100 0001 C1
N 1101 0101 D5
B 1100 0010 C2
O 1101 0110 D6
C 1100 0011 C3
P 1101 0111 D7
D 1100 0100 C4
Q 1101 1000 D8
E 1100 0101 C5
R 1101 1001 D9
F 1100 0110 C6 S 1110 0010 E2
G 1100 0111 C7 T 1110 0011 E3
H 1100 1000 C8 U 1110 0100 E4
I 1100 1001 C9 V 1110 0101 E5
J 1101 0001 D1 W 1110 0110 E6
K 1101 0010 D2 X 1110 0111 E7
L 1101 0011 D3 Y 1110 1000 E8
Z 1110 1001 E9
M 1101 0100 D4
Page 12 Computer Codes
Coding of Alphabetic and Numeric
Characters in EBCDIC
EBCDIC Code Hexadecima
Character Digit Zone l Equivalent
0 1111 0000 F0
1 1111 0001 F1
2 1111 0010 F2
3 1111 0011 F3
4 1111 0100 F4
5 1111 0101 F5
6 1111 0110 F6
7 1111 0111 F7
8 1111 1000 F8
9 1111 1001 F9
Page 13 Computer Codes
Zoned Decimal Numbers
Zoned decimal numbers are used to represent numeric
values (positive, negative, or unsigned) in EBCDIC
A sign indicator (C for plus, D for minus, and F for
unsigned) is used in the zone position of the rightmost
digit
Zones for all other digits remain as F, the zone value
for numeric characters in EBCDIC
In zoned format, there is only one digit per byte
Page 14 Computer Codes
Examples Zoned Decimal Numbers
Numeric Value EBCDIC Sign Indicator
345 F3F4F5 F for unsigned
+345 F3F4C5 C for positive
-345 F3F4D5 D for negative
Page 15 Computer Codes
Packed Decimal Numbers
Packed decimal numbers are formed from zoned decimal
numbers in the following manner:
Step 1: The zone half and the digit half
of the rightmost byte are
reversed
Step 2: All remaining zones are dropped
out
Packed decimal format requires fewer number of
bytes than zoned decimal format for representing a
number
Numbers represented in packed decimal format can
be used for arithmetic operations
Page 16 Computer Codes
Examples of Conversion of Zoned
Decimal Numbers to Packed Decimal Format
Numeric Value EBCDIC Sign Indicator
345 F3F4F5 345F
+345 F3F4C5 345C
-345 F3F4D5 345D
3456 F3F4F5F6 03456F
Page 17 Computer Codes
EBCDIC Coding Scheme
Example
Using binary notation, write EBCDIC coding for the word BIT.
How many bytes are required for this representation?
Solution:
B = 1100 0010 in EBCDIC binary notation
I = 1100 1001 in EBCDIC binary notation
T = 1110 0011 in EBCDIC binary notation
Hence, EBCDIC coding for the word BIT in
binary notation
11000010 11001001
will be 11100011
B I T
3 bytes will be required for this representation because each letter
requires 1 byte (or 8 bits)
Page 18 Computer Codes
ASCII
ASCII stands for American Standard Code
for
Information Interchange.
ASCII is of two types – ASCII-7 and ASCII-8
ASCII-7 uses 7 bits to represent a and can
symbol represent 128 (27) different characters
ASCII-8 uses 8 bits to represent a and can
symbol represent 256 (28) different characters
First 128 characters in ASCII-7 and ASCII-8 are same
Page 19 Computer Codes
Coding of Numeric and
Alphabetic Characters in ASCII
ASCII-7 / ASCII-8 Hexadecimal
Character
Zone Digit Equivalent
0 0011 0000 30
1 0011 0001 31
2 0011 0010 32
3 0011 0011 33
4 0011 0100 34
5 0011 0101 35
6 0011 0110 36
7 0011 0111 37
8 0011 1000 38
9 0011 1001 39
Page 20 Computer Codes
Coding of Numeric and
Alphabetic Characters in ASCII
ASCII-7 / ASCII-8 Hexadecimal
Character
Zone Digit Equivalent
A 0100 0001 41
B 0100 0010 42
C 0100 0011 43
D 0100 0100 44
E 0100 0101 45
F 0100 0110 46
G 0100 0111 47
H 0100 1000 48
I 0100 1001 49
J 0100 1010 4A
K 0100 1011 4B
L 0100 1100 4C
M 0100 1101 4D
Page 21 Computer Codes
Coding of Numeric and
Alphabetic Characters in ASCII
ASCII-7 / ASCII-8 Hexadecimal
Character
Zone Digit Equivalent
N 0100 1110 4E
O 0100 1111 4F
P 0101 0000 50
Q 0101 0001 51
R 0101 0010 52
S 0101 0011 53
T 0101 0100 54
U 0101 0101 55
V 0101 0110 56
W 0101 0111 57
X 0101 1000 58
Y 0101 1001 59
Z 0101 1010 5A
Page 22 Computer Codes
ASCII-7 Coding Scheme
Example
Write binary coding for the word BOY in ASCII-7. How many bytes are required
for this representation?
Solution:
B = 1000010 in ASCII-7 binary notation
O = 1001111 in ASCII-7 binary notation
Y = 1011001 in ASCII-7 binary notation
Hence, binary coding for the word BOY
in ASCII-7 will be
1000010 1001111 1011001
B O Y
Since each character in ASCII-7 requires one byte for its representation and
there are 3 characters in the word BOY, 3 bytes will be required for this
representation
Page 23 Computer Codes
ASCII-8 Coding Scheme
Example
Write binary coding for the word SKY in ASCII-8. How many bytes are
required for this representation?
Solution:
S = 01010011 in ASCII-8 binary notation
K = 01001011 in ASCII-8 binary notation
Y = 01011001 in ASCII-8 binary notation
Hence, binary coding for the word SKY in ASCII-8 will be
01010011 01001011 01011001
S K Y
Since each character in ASCII-8 requires one byte for its representation and
there are 3 characters in the word SKY, 3 bytes will be required for this
representation
Page 24 Computer Codes
Unicode
Why Unicode:
No single encoding system supports all languages
Different encoding systems conflict
Unicode features:
Provides a consistent way of encoding
multilingual plain text
Defines codes for characters used in all
major languages of the world
Defines codes for special characters,
mathematical symbols, technical symbols, and
diacritics
Page 25 Computer Codes
Unicode
Unicode features (continued):
Capacity to encode as many as a million characters
Assigns each character a unique numeric value and
name
Reserves a part of the code space for private use
Affords simplicity and consistency of
ASCII, even corresponding characters have same
code
Specifies an algorithm for the presentation
of text with bi-directional behavior
Encoding Forms
UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-32
Page 26 Computer Codes
Collating Sequence
Collating sequence defines the assigned ordering
among the characters used by a computer
Collating sequence may vary, depending on the
type of computer code used by a particular
computer
In most computers, collating sequences follow the
following rules:
1. Letters are considered in alphabetic
order (A < B < C … < Z)
2. Digits are considered in numeric
order (0 < 1 < 2 … < 9)
Page 27 Computer Codes
Sorting in EBCDIC
Example
Suppose a computer EBCDIC as its internal
uses representation of In which will this
characters.sort the strings 23, A1, order
computer 1A?
Solution:
In EBCDIC, numeric characters are treated to be greater
than alphabetic characters. Hence, in the said computer,
numeric characters will be placed after alphabetic
characters and the given string will be treated as:
A1 < 1A < 23
Therefore, the sorted sequence will be: A1, 1A, 23.
Page 28 Computer Codes
Sorting in ASCII
Example
Suppose a computer uses ASCII for its internal representation of
characters. In which order will this computer sort the strings 23, A1,
1A, a2, 2a, aA, and Aa?
Solution:
In ASCII, numeric characters are treated to be less than alphabetic
characters. Hence, in the said computer, numeric characters will be
placed before alphabetic characters and the given string will be
treated as:
1A < 23 < 2a < A1 < Aa < a2 < aA
Therefore, the sorted sequence will be: 1A, 23, 2a, A1, Aa, a2, and
aA
Page 29 Computer Codes
Key Words/Phrases
Alphabetic data
Alphanumeric data
American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII)
Binary Coded Decimal (BCD) code
Byte
Collating sequence
Computer codes
Control characters
Extended Binary-Coded Decimal Interchange Code (EBCDIC)
Hexadecimal equivalent
Numeric data
Octal equivalent
Packed decimal numbers
Unicode
Zoned decimal numbers
Page 30 Computer Codes
