Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code

(eb-see-dick)

A code used to represent up to 256 individual characters. Used primarily by IBM mainframes, EBCDIC is not often seen today except in the IBM world and in some devices that must "talk" to the IBM world. Despite it being an IBM product EBCDIC consisted of up to six different forms, all incompatible because of different letter sequences, puncuation differences, and encoding differences. The code evolved from punched card codes of the 1960s. (Also see ASCII.)

More Information

• History and Character Set
• EBCDIC Page at oreilly.com