ASCII - What does ASCII mean?

Answer:

The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a code used by digital devices to represent text as numbers in the form of digital bits (0s and 1s). The standard set of 128 characters includes the numbers 0-9, the letters a-z (in both lower case and upper case), and some basic punctuation symbols, control codes (to instruct a device to take certain actions), and a blank space. Each of these characters is represented by a specific sequence of 7 bits. The set has been extended a number of times to include additional characters such as non-English characters, graphics symbols, and mathematical symbols. The extended sets are made up of sequences that include 8 bits. ASCII is used to allow digital devices (including data processing systems and communications systems) to process, store, and transfer character-orientated information (text) between devices.