A neat description of encoding characters

[Richard Wordingham via Unicode]

On Mon, 2 Dec 2019 12:01:52 +0000
"Costello, Roger L. via Unicode" <unicode at unicode.org> wrote:

> From the book titled "Computer Power and Human Reason" by Joseph
> Weizenbaum, p.74-75
> 
> Suppose that the alphabet with which we wish to concern ourselves
> consists of 256 distinct symbols...

Why should I wish to concern myself with only one alphabet?

Richard.