What is ASCII? A Brief Introduction

ASCII, which stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a widely used character encoding system in the field of computing. It was developed in the 1960s by a committee led by Robert W. Bemer, with the goal of providing a standardized way to represent characters using numerical values. ASCII originally consisted of a 7-bit code, which allowed for a total of 128 different characters to be represented, including letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and control characters.

Understanding ASCII: The Basics

In ASCII, each character is represented by a unique numerical value. These values range from 0 to 127 in the original 7-bit ASCII code. The numerical representation of a character is often referred to as its ASCII value. For example, the ASCII value of the letter ‘A’ is 65, while the ASCII value of the number ‘0’ is 48. The ASCII code uses a binary system, meaning that each character is represented by a sequence of 0s and 1s. This binary representation allows computers to understand and process characters.

The ASCII Value of 90: Explained

The ASCII value of 90 corresponds to the character ‘Z’. In the ASCII code, capital letters are assigned values starting from 65 for ‘A’ and incrementing by one for each subsequent letter. Therefore, ‘Z’ is assigned the ASCII value of 90. It is important to note that the ASCII value of a character is not the same as its position in the alphabet. In this case, the alphabetically last letter ‘Z’ is assigned the highest ASCII value among capital letters in the ASCII code.

To better visualize the ASCII values, let’s take a look at the following table:

Character	ASCII Value
A	65
B	66
C	67
…	…
Y	89
Z	90

As shown in the table, the ASCII value of ‘Z’ is indeed 90, making it the highest ASCII value among capital letters. This means that if you encounter the number 90 in a context related to ASCII, it most likely refers to the character ‘Z’.

Fun Fact: ASCII Art and the Number 90

ASCII art is a form of creative expression that involves creating images using only ASCII characters. These images can range from simple smiley faces to intricate portraits. Interestingly, the number 90 in ASCII corresponds to the character ‘Z’, which opens up interesting possibilities for ASCII art. Artists can use the character ‘Z’ creatively to incorporate it into their artwork or create designs that feature the letter ‘Z’. It’s amazing how a simple numerical value in ASCII can have such an impact on artistic creations. So next time you come across the number 90, remember its significance in both the world of ASCII and ASCII art.