Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!snorkelwacker!spdcc!tauxersvilli!alphalpha!nazgul From: nazgul@alphalpha.com (Kee Hinckley) Newsgroups: comp.sources.d Subject: Re: Why does 'stevie' mask the 8th bit ? Message-ID: <1990Mar21.214337.1283@alphalpha.com> Date: 21 Mar 90 21:43:37 GMT References: <1577@krafla.rhi.hi.is> <1581@krafla.rhi.hi.is> <14602@s.ms.uky.edu> Organization: asi Lines: 32 In article <14602@s.ms.uky.edu> sean@ms.uky.edu (Sean Casey) writes: >Programmers are just trying to make their software work on *most* >systems. For *most* systems out there, ascii only covers seven bits. Since when does 'char' == 'ascii'? If you want it to work on most systems, then always use 'unsigned char' and don't make the assumption that the United States is the center of the world. Of the languages out there, the ones that fit into only 7 bits are definitely in the minority. >There are usually good reasons for masking the eighth bit, the best >being that *most* terminals go haywire when presented with 8 bit data. Quite true, however, if the user wants to enter 8 bit characters then perhaps they know what they're doing? >7 bits is a very established way of doing things. So were punch cards, but I don't see them around to much any more. >What you guys in iceland need is not to require the rest of the world >to accomodate you, but for you to accomodate the rest of the world. >Perhaps you need a new standard with digraphs or something. Drugs, definitely on drugs. The standard exists, it's called ISO-LATIN1 and it uses 8-bits. It's documented in my /usr/pub/latin1. Most of the rest of the *world* uses it; if they have a latin-derived language. (I'd post it here, but my vi strips off the hi-bits :-). -- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Alphalpha Software, Inc. | Voice/Fax: 617/646-7703 | Home: 617/641-3805 | | 148 Scituate St. | Smart fax, dial number. | | | Arlington, MA 02174 | Dumb fax, dial number, | BBS: 617/641-3722 | | nazgul@alphalpha.com | wait for ring, press 3. | 300/1200/2400 baud | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+