How Does Digital Text Representation Work?
Unicode as a Function of Text Representation
Computers process and calculate data using a binary system. The binary system consists of zeros and ones, which are represented in different sequences. The digital foundation of text is also based on this binary system. The standard for encoding characters in binary representation is called “Unicode.” The term can also be described as a general character encoding system. Unicode serves as the standardization of a unified script and character system.
Unicode as a Representation of a Unified Script and Character System
Before Unicode was invented, different languages were translated using various encodings, leading to frequent display errors, making the transfer of languages nearly impossible. Today, Unicode is the standard character set and includes all existing characters from different languages and cultures, ranging from the Cyrillic alphabet, Japanese characters, to mathematical symbols.
Structure of Unicode
Unicode is divided into various levels, known as planes. Altogether, Unicode encompasses 216 codepoints. Assigning a unique numerical value to all existing alphabets is known as a codepoint. Six planes are currently in use, while the remaining ones are reserved for future use.