Code Pages On Microsoft Windows

Code Pages On Microsoft Windows

A code page is a mapping between values stored in memory and the symbols they represent. On MS-DOS systems (prior to Windows) the code page was what today is called the OEM code page. At the time, the common code page (Code page 437) contained many box-drawing characters which were used to simulate a GUI in MS-DOS. It did not contain sufficient accented letters to support many European languages.

With the advent of Windows, it was decided that a new code page with those box-drawing characters replaced by accented letters was required (Windows-1252). However, since most existing applications were MS-DOS and might depend on cp437, the existing code page could not be replaced. Hence, the concept of ANSI code pages and OEM code pages was created. ANSI code pages are used by Windows and its applications. Despite its name, ANSI code pages are not endorsed by the American National Standards Institute. OEM code pages are used by MS-DOS.

Read more about Code Pages On Microsoft Windows:  Use

Famous quotes containing the words code, pages and/or windows:

    “Motion or change, and identity or rest, are the first and second secrets of nature: Motion and Rest. The whole code of her laws may be written on the thumbnail, or the signet of a ring.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    “The degree to which the child-rearing professionals continue to be out of touch with reality is astounding. For example, a widely read manual on breast-feeding, devotes fewer than two pages to the working mother.”
    —Sylvia Ann Hewitt (20th century)

    “I know some lonely houses off the road
    A robber’d like the look of,—
    Wooden barred,
    And windows hanging low,”
    —Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)