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ASCII Character Encoding

Comments debate the precise definition of ASCII, whether certain characters qualify as ASCII or require extensions like Unicode, Shift-JIS, or EBCDIC, and its historical and modern relevance in computing.

➡️ Stable 0.6x Programming Languages
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Top Contributors

kps (62) kazinator (23) cryptonector (21) Someone (20) JdeBP (19)

Keywords

e.g II US IMHO JIS SOH ROM EBCIDIC ycombinator.com FWIW ascii character characters text unicode letters plain plain text iso sets

Sample Comments

TazeTSchnitzel • May 12, 2015 • View on HN

That's not ASCII, that's Unicode (or Shift-JIS, or JIS X 0201...)

tingletech • Nov 22, 2011 • View on HN

while cool, I don't believe those characters are technically ASCII.

al_james • Oct 17, 2010 • View on HN

Assuming they still use ASCII (or an ASCII extended character set) in those days.

est • Aug 22, 2025 • View on HN

It's like ASCII control characters and display characters lmao

joosters • Sep 26, 2015 • View on HN

Hence the ASCII in the description.

nine_k • Oct 9, 2024 • View on HN

There are places that don't operate in anything but ASCII. Or even anything but 0123456789,\n\r.

vivegi • Oct 4, 2022 • View on HN

Tyranny of the ASCII and EBCDIC.

dbbo • Feb 8, 2012 • View on HN

I didn't know all those special chars were part of ASCII.

talles • Sep 10, 2013 • View on HN

Didn't know about the ascii one.

aap_ • Nov 21, 2023 • View on HN

What do you find strange about ASCII?