[1] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

extended binary coded decimal interchange code
     
         /eb's-dik/, /eb'see`dik/, /eb'k-dik/,
        /ee`bik'dik`/, /-bik'dik`/ ebcdic a proprietary 8-bit
        character set used on ibm dinosaurs, the as/400, and
        e-server.
     
        ebcdic is an extension to 8 bits of bcdic binary coded
        decimal interchange code, an earlier 6-bit character set used
        on ibm computers.  ebcdic was first? used on the successful
        system/360, anounced on 1964-04-07, and survived for many
        years despite the almost universal adoption of ascii
        elsewhere.  was this concern for backward compatibility or,
        as many believe, a marketing strategy to lock in ibm
        customers?
     
        ibm created 57 national ebcdic character sets and an
        international reference version irv based on iso 646 and
        hence ascii compatible.  documentation on these was not
        easily accessible making international exchange of data even
        between ibm mainframes a tricky task.
     
        us ebcdic uses more or less the same characters as ascii,
        but different code points.  it has non-contiguous letter
        sequences, some ascii characters do not exist in ebcdic
        e.g. square brackets, and ebcdic has some cent sign,
        not sign not in ascii.  as a consequence, the translation
        between ascii and ebcdic was never officially completely
        defined.  users defined one translation which resulted in a
        so-called de-facto ebcdic containing all the characters of
        ascii, that all ascii-related programs use.
     
        some printers, telex machines, and even electronic cash
        registers can speak ebcdic, but only so they can converse with
        ibm mainframes.
     
        for an in-depth discussion of character code sets, and full
        translation tables, see guidelines on 8-bit character codes
        ftp://ftp.ulg.ac.be/pub/docs/iso8859/iso8859.networking.
     
        a history of character codes
        http://tronweb.super-nova.co.jp/characcodehist.html.
     
        here is a simple translation table:
     
        	   least significant nibble ->
     
        	   0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 a b c d e f
        	0  ... controls ...
        	1
        	2
        	3                 ... controls ...
        	4      â a à á ã å c ñ ¢ . <  + |
        	5   e ê ë è í î ï ì ß  $   ; ^
        	6  - / Â Ä À Á Ã Å Ç Ñ ¦ ,  _ > ?
        	7  ø É Ê Ë È Í Î Ï Ì ` :  @ ' = "
        	8  Ø a b c d e f g h i « » ð ý þ ±
        	9  ° j k l m n o p q r ª º æ ¸ Æ ¤
        	a  µ ~ s t u v w x y z ¡ ¿ Ð  Þ ®
        	b  ¬ pounds ¥ · © § ¶ ¼ ½ ¾ Ý ¨ ¯  ´ ×
        	c   a b c d e f g h i ­ ô o ò ó õ
        	d   j k l m n o p q r ¹ û u ù ú ÿ
        	e  \ ÷ s t u v w x y z ² Ô Ö Ò Ó Õ
        	f  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ³ Û Ü Ù Ú
     
        e.g. the ebcdic code for "a" is hexadecimal "c1".
     
        2002-03-03
     
     
see also:
character set ibm dinosaurs as/400 e-server system/360 
ascii backward compatibility iso 646 code points square brackets 
cent sign not sign lt;guidelines on 8-bit character codesgt; lt;a history of character codesgt;  a b c d e f g h i ­ ô o ò ó õ d  
hexadecimal 

Extended Family >> E Words
Extended Family, definition of term: Extended Family
extended+family_pag1.html

Extended Memory >> E Words
Extended Memory, definition of term: Extended Memory
extended+memory_pag1.html

Interchange >> I Words
Interchange, definition of term: Interchange
interchange_pag1.html

Extended C >> E Words
Extended C, definition of term: Extended C
extended+c_pag1.html

Extended >> E Words
Extended, definition of term: Extended
extended_pag1.html

Decimal Fractio >> D Words
Decimal Fractio, definition of term: Decimal Fractio
decimal+fractio_pag1.html

Decimal Point >> D Words
Decimal Point, definition of term: Decimal Point
decimal+point_pag1.html

Decimal System >> D Words
Decimal System, definition of term: Decimal System
decimal+system_pag1.html

Decimal >> D Words
Decimal, definition of term: Decimal
decimal_pag1.html