The Evolution of ASCII Art: From Telegraphy to Graphic Characters

ASCII art, a style of digital art that uses only characters to create images, has its roots in the early days of computer coding. The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) was first developed in 1963 by the American Standards Association Committee (ASA), later renamed the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The original code consisted of 128 characters, including letters, numbers, and symbols.

Initially, the code only included capital letters and numbers, but in 1967, lowercase letters and some control characters were added, forming what is known as US-ASCII. This expanded set of characters allowed for more creative possibilities and paved the way for the development of ASCII art.

In the early 1980s, IBM introduced an extension to the original code called Code Page 437, which replaced some obsolete control characters with graphic characters. This update enabled users to create a wider range of images using only ASCII characters.

The addition of new symbols, signs, graphics, and Latin letters in 1981 further expanded the possibilities for ASCII art. The inclusion of all punctuation signs and characters needed to write texts in other languages, such as Spanish, opened up new avenues for creative expression.

Today, ASCII art is a popular form of digital art, with artists using the humble character set to create complex and intricate images. From simple designs to elaborate masterpieces, ASCII art has come a long way since its humble beginnings in the early days of computing.

'150 character ascii art'