Character - GCSE Computer Science Definition
Reviewed by: Robert Hampton
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In the context of GCSE Computer Science, a 'character' refers to any single unit of text that can be represented digitally, such as letters, numbers, punctuation marks, or symbols. Characters are encoded using standardised character sets like ASCII or Unicode, which assign a unique binary value to each character to facilitate their storage and manipulation in computer systems. Understanding characters is essential for tasks such as programming, data processing, and creating user interfaces, as they form the building blocks for text-based data and communication within software applications.
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