Exam-style question
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Describe ASCII and Unicode as character coding systems. Explain one important reason why Unicode was introduced.
Model answer
What a good answer should say
- ASCII assigns codes to a limited set of characters and uses 7 bits for each standard ASCII code, giving 128 possible codes.
- Unicode is a character coding system designed to represent a much wider range of characters.
- Unicode was introduced because ASCII could not provide codes for all the characters needed by different written languages and for many additional symbols.
Explanation
Why this works
A strong answer identifies ASCII as a coding system for character data, states that standard ASCII uses 7 bits, and contrasts its limited character set with Unicode's much wider range. The explanation must link Unicode's introduction to the limitations of ASCII.
Common mistake
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