
                                ASCII

    ͻ
       ... just letters, numbers, and punctuation symbols.   
    ͼ

ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. The
ASCII character set consists of a standard 128 characters. ASCII is
used as a common standard for data transfer. ASCII files are commonly
called "straight text" or "vanilla ASCII" which indicates that there
are no strange imbedded codes (i.e., characters) in a given file.

Most online periodicals are stored in ASCII format, which means that
almost any machine or piece of software can utilize it. An ASCII text
file is as easily read by a Macintosh as by an IBM PC clone. I typically
describe ASCII to clients as "just letters, numbers, and punctuation
symbols, and nothing else."

Most word processors will accept ASCII files "as is." For example,
WordPerfect Corporation's WordPerfect word processor will take an ASCII
file and automatically convert it into a WordPerfect file.
