3 Storing words
This chapter covers
- Representing letters as numbers so computers can process them
- Working with text formatting such as bold and italic
- The UnicodeTM standard for the world’s lanuages and writing systems
We have added lines and curves to our repertoire in the previous chapter. Now let’s look at storing and manipulating text.
Computers deal only in numbers. These numbers are processed in various ways, with no particular meaning assigned to them. However, we like to assign meaning, so we use a code to say which number means what. For example, we might set 0 = A, 1 = B, 2 = C, etc. This code exists only in our heads and our computer programs—the computer itself still sees just numbers. From the very beginning, computers have been used to process textual data, to have textual input (from keyboards and similar devices), and to have textual output (to line printers, which were a little like a conventional typewriter but connected to a computer rather than a typist’s keyboard). The descendants of these coding and decoding mechanisms are still in use today: they are our computer keyboards and mice and our mobile phone or tablet touchscreens. In this chapter, we will look at some of the ancient and modern ways to encode text as numbers.