The purpose of ASCII values in computer data representation is to encode text in a format that can be easily processed and understood by machines. The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) assigns numerical values to characters, such as letters, digits, and symbols, allowing computers to represent and manipulate text-based data. ASCII facilitates simple data exchange between different devices and systems by standardizing how characters are stored and transmitted. While newer encoding standards like Unicode exist, ASCII remains foundational in programming and data processing.