ASCII uses seven bits, giving a character set of 2^7 (128) characters. The characters are represented in a table, called the ASCII table. The 128 characters include:
32 control codes (mainly to do with printing)
32 punctuation codes, symbols, and space
26 upper case letters
26 lower case letters
numeric digits 0-9
ASCII only represents basic characters needed for English, limiting its use for other languages
Extended ASCII uses 8 bits, providing 256 unique codes (2^8 = 256) or a maximum of 256 characters it can represent
provides essential characters such as mathematical operators and accents in languages
UNICODE is a character set and was created as a solution to the limitations of ASCII
uses a minimum of 16 bits, providing 2^16 unique codes (65,536) or a minimum of 65,536 characters it can represent
can represent characters from all the major languages around the world