The Universal Character Set (UCS), often referred to as Unicode, is a standardized encoding that aims to represent every character from every writing system in a consistent and unified manner. The term “Universal Character Set” emphasizes the goal of inclusivity and comprehensiveness across various languages, scripts, and symbols.
Unicode provides a unique numeric code point for each character, making it possible to represent and exchange text data accurately and unambiguously. This standardized encoding helps to overcome the limitations and challenges associated with various legacy character encodings that were specific to certain languages or regions.
The Universal Character Set serves as the foundation for various encoding formats, including UTF-8, UTF-16, and UTF-32, which determine how the code points are represented in binary form (bytes) for storage and transmission in computing systems. Unicode’s goal of universality and cross-platform compatibility has made it an essential standard for modern software development and digital communication, enabling seamless text representation across different languages and scripts.