Plaintext
Plaintext refers to unformatted text data that contains only readable characters without any special encoding, markup, or styling. It is the simplest form of text representation, typically using standard character sets like ASCII or Unicode, and is used for storing and transmitting human-readable information. This contrasts with formatted text (e.g., rich text or binary data) that includes additional elements like fonts, colors, or embedded objects.
Developers should understand plaintext because it is fundamental for tasks involving data interchange, configuration files, and source code, where simplicity and portability are key. It is essential in scenarios like writing scripts, parsing logs, or working with APIs that use text-based formats such as JSON or XML, as it ensures data is easily readable and editable across different systems and tools.