How Do Computers Understand What You Type?

Computers use invisible codes to understand what you type. Every letter and symbol on the keyboard has a special number that tells the computer what it is. When you press a key, the computer sees that number and turns it into a letter or symbol on the screen. It's like a secret code that only the computer knows.

Take the quiz →

Examples

When you type the letter 'B', the computer sees it as number 66 and shows the letter B on the screen.
The delete key sends a signal with code 8, which tells the computer to remove the last character from your sentence.
Typing on a phone keyboard is similar, every tap turns into a letter using invisible codes.

Ask a question

Discussion

Recent activity

Categories: Technology · computing· input devices· typing· keyboards· computer science