Character Encoding/
Alphanumeric Codes
• Computers use alphanumeric codes to deal with letters and symbols.
• Alphanumeric codes, also called character codes, are binary codes
used to represent alphanumeric data.
• The codes write alphanumeric data, including letters of the alphabet,
numbers, mathematical symbols and punctuation marks, in a form that
is understandable and process able by a computer.
• ASCII and EBCDIC codes are the two most widely used alphanumeric
codes.
• Some predefined codes are used to represent numeric and non numeric
characters. Some of the standards are discussed below:
• ASCII
• ISCII
• UNICODE
ASCII CODE
• ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange.
• The ASCII codes are used to represent alphanumeric data in computer
input/output.
• It was first published as a standard in 1967.
• It was subsequently updated and many versions of it were launched with
the most recent update in 1986.
• ASCII-7 is a 7 bit code and can represent 128 characters.
• These include 95 printable characters including 26 upper-case letters (A
to Z), 26 lowercase letters (a to z), 10 numerals (0 to 9) and 33 special
characters such as mathematical symbols, space character etc.
ASCII TABLE
UNICODE
• UNICODE also known as universal code was developed jointly by the
Unicode Consortium and the International Organisation for Standardisation
(ISO).
• The Unicode is a 16-bit code so it can represent 65536 different characters.
• Unicode provides a unique number for every character irrespective of the
platform, program and the language.
• It is the most complete character encoding scheme that allows text of all
forms and languages to be encoded for use by computers.
• In addition to multilingual support, it also supports a comprehensive set of
mathematical and technical symbols, greatly simplifying any scientific
information interchange.
ISCII (Indian Standard Code
for Information Interchange)
• A lot of efforts have gone into facilitating the use of Indian
languages on computers.
• In 1991, the Bureau of Indian Standards adopted the
ISCII.
• It is an 8 bit code which allows English and Indian Scripts
alphabets to be used simultaneously.
• Characters coded in ISCII need 8 bits for each character.
Microprocessor
• A microprocessor is a Central Processing Unit (CPU) on a single
chip.
• It is a multipurpose programmable device constructed using
Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) technology.
• In 1971 Intel Corporation fabricated the first microprocessor-
4004. It could do only add and subtract operations and that too
it could process only 4 bits at a time. But Intel 4004 powered
one of the first portable electronic calculators and since then the
microprocessor technology has come a long way.
• Today we have processors with which can process upto 128 bits
at a time at the speed of billion instructions per second.
Characteristics of microprocessors
• Instruction Set: It is the set of instructions that the microprocessor executes.
• Word Length: The number of bits processed in a single instruction is called
word length or word size.
• The word size is directly proportional to the processing power of the CPU.
• During the processing, the internal general purpose registers hold data.
• So if internal registers can hold data upto 8 bits, the word length is 8 bits.
• If it can process 16 bits at a time, then the internal registers can hold upto
16 bits at a time and so on.
• Hence a 32 bit processor is about 4 times faster than an 8 bit processor.
• Examples of word lengths are 16 bit, 32 bit, 64 bit. The terms 16-bit CPU,
32-bit CPU, 64-bit CPU are used very often while talking about CPUs.
• System Clock Speed: The microprocessor’s pace is
controlled by the System Clock.
• The System Clock is an electronic circuit that generates
pulses which are measured in million of cycles per second
(MHz).
• The number of pulses generated by the clock per unit of
time is its Clock speed.
• Each microprocessor is characterized by its clock speed.
• Nowadays microprocessors have clock speed of several
GHz. The CPU uses this clock speed to control
sequencing and execution of various operations in the
computer.
Classification of Microprocessors
• Apart from the width of data (word length) that the microprocessors can process at a time, the
classification is also based on the architecture i.e. Instruction Set of the microprocessor.
• RISC: It stands for Reduced Instruction Set Computer.
• It is a type of microprocessor architecture that uses a small set of instructions of uniform length.
• These are simple but primitive instructions which execute in one clock cycle. For this reason,
RISC chips are less complex and also less expensive to produce.
• The instructions are of uniform length which interface with about 32-36 registers.
• The program size in case of RISC architecture is more but more memory cycles are needed to
access data.
• To reduce the number of memory cycles, RISC keeps the necessary data in the processor itself.
• The drawback of RISC design is that the computer must combine or repeat operations to
complete a large program consisting of many processing operations.
• Since instructions are simple , RISC processors are relatively simple to design.
• Examples of RISC processor is SPARC, POWER PC etc.
•
• CISC: It stands for Complex Instruction Set Computer.
• A CISC chip such as Intel Pentium provides
programmers with hundreds of instructions of variable
sizes, and the processing circuitry includes many
special purpose circuits that carry out these
instructions at high speeds.
• In this case the program size is reduced and hence
lesser number of memory cycles are required to
execute the instruction.
• So fewer general purpose registers(8-12) are present in
CISC processors. Also less number of memory cycles
result in faster execution of the program.
