Encoding vs. Decoding
Difference between encoding and decoding: – Where the modes communication matters a lot here this also has utmost importance that you message should be conveyed properly. Encoding and decoding are actually the process through which data is transferred into such shape which is understand able for receiver. Here the question is what difference between encoding and decoding is and how the message process successfully. Let see the first what encoding and what is meant by decoding, then we will talk about the difference between encoding and decoding.
Difference between Encoding and Decoding
Encoding
Encoding is, just as its name suggests, converting the message to another code. One of the main examples of encoding is hieroglyphics; the Old Egyptian writing using pictures, rather than alphabetic words that people can easily understand. These painstakingly drawn icons were ideal for decorating the surfaces of temples and for conveying messages. Also, there was another script which was used for conducting daily business and that is known as hieratic. This is a handwriting where the picture symptoms were abbreviated to the idea of abstraction.
The example of hieroglyphs is to illustrate the concept of encoding which was present even thousands of years before. Now, after all these years, the encoded concept has not been totally decoded by the readers, but it might be because the modern man was not the supposed reader.
A recent example of basic encoding is Morse code, which was invented in 1836. Morse Code was the way of communication used by telegraph equipment that sent pulses along electric currents. The pulses were generally made up of dots and dashes.
Character encoding
For the digital documents, the type of encoding needs to be specified because the same character might be visualized differently in different languages. Just because someone may be writing content, might not necessarily mean it’ll be displayed effectively once sent, unless the encoding is given. For the purpose, UTF-8 is the most powerful and popular encoding option available. In UTF-8, an entity can be from 1 to 4 bytes long and can be used to encode any letter, digit or symbol. Moreover, UTF-8 is backward compatible with ASCII, which is why it is used as universal encoding technique.
Analog-to-digital
Analog-to-digital encoding is the procedure of transforming the analog data into its digital counterpart, which then can be used for video recording, music or images. There are four different approaches for the interconversion of analog and digital data:
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- Analog data to Analog signals
- Analog data to Digital signals
- Digital data to Analog signals
- Digital data to Digital signals
Decoding
Decoding is the technique of converting the encoded message back to its original shape but in order to do that, it is necessary to know which encoding language was used for the purpose. Rather than packaging the message in a format to be sent (this is what encoder does), the message is received by the decoder which then translates it.
In the case of Hieroglyphics as an example, the decoding process got many years of work to decipher and understand, but even up till now, not all of the hieroglyphs found are completely decoded within an understandable format. With Morse Code, the individual who received the message will need to know the code basis to convert it to the message. Similarly, if the UTF-8 encoding is given for this content, the decoding process will convert the message effectively. In case a different encoding format is used, or the encoding language has not been specified, the decoding process will give unintended results.
Now I’m sure you people have no more confusion about encoding and decoding. Simple thing is that the basic aim of encoding and decoding is to make the message understandable for receiver. Thus it makes communication process successful.
