An ASCII editor is a program that arranges ASCII characters to create visual results, often used for creating ASCII art. It has specific features for easier manipulation and may require a specific operating system. While outdated for mainstream users, it remains useful in the telecommunications industry.
An ASCII editor is a type of program for manipulating a set of characters called ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange). The ASCII editor program generally involves arranging ASCII characters in various ways to generate specific visual results. Many ASCII editors help users create artistic visualizations on a computer screen.
Some programmers refer to the ASCII editor as a kind of text editor, because ASCII is mostly composed of letters, punctuation, and other elements that make up conventional text. An ASCII editor is often different from a “word processing” text editor in that it focuses on aesthetic results and not necessarily readability. An ASCII editor helps computer users create impressive ASCII art that uses different colors, sizes, and types of ASCII characters at special locations on the screen.
ASCII editors have specific features that help make creating ASCII art easier. Some of these include a background designation or other “color fill” tools. An ASCII editor may also have “editing commands” that place specific amounts of ASCII characters where they may be most useful for adding to the “big picture” of what is possibly being displayed on the screen. ASCII editors may also have features such as “image overlay” and other layout commands for manipulating larger blocks of ASCII on the screen.
A computer may need a specific operating system to run an ASCII editor. While many of these are available as freeware, vendors may sell some ASCII editors bundled in software packages. Some may also be available as SaaS or Software as a Service designs, where vendors can offer them over the Internet.
While many programmers still enjoy creating ASCII art, many mainstream computer users see it as an outdated art form that is generally out of the visual arts mainstream. ASCII editors are also of marginal use to many businesses, as their primary function is to manipulate text, where standard word processing programs are often the primary choice for managers. ASCII editing can still be useful in the telecommunications industry, where ASCII characters are still the primary tools for things like SMS and even some VoIP programs. While ASCII art may largely be a thing of the past, there is a lot that some types of ASCII editors could do for modern telecommunications companies.
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