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From: minow@mountn.dec.com (Martin Minow)
Newsgroups: comp.std.misc
Subject: Re: Int'l Character set
Message-ID: <1647@mountn.dec.com>
Date: 5 Jun 90 16:54:43 GMT
References: <150@rossignol.Princeton.EDU> <BZS.90May23210652@world.std.com> <1990May30.045903.14249@agate.berkeley.edu> <3410@auspex.auspex.com> <1990Jun1.010720.16597@agate.berkeley.edu> <1990Jun5.102128.6577@tsa.co.uk>
Reply-To: minow@thundr.enet.dec.com (Martin Minow)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Lines: 20

In article  <1990Jun1.010720.16597@agate.berkeley.edu> 
dankg@lightning.Berkeley.EDU (Dan KoGai) asks about the internationalization
features of ISO 10646.

As I recall (I've only seen an early draft), 10646 is a registry of
characters.  I.e., describes the way a conforming device converts a
character into a shape.  In general, each script is assigned a range
of values, and characters are assigned within that range.

As Dan points out, this is not sufficient, and, as I recall, other standards
specify writing direction.  There are other problems as well.  For example,
does the code for ASCII ( represent "left parenthesis" or "open parenthesis."

While the Macintosh is evolving towards a multi-lingual environment, they
do not seem to be approaching the problem from in the same way as the
ISO Standard body which, in the long term, may be a problem for all of us.

Martin Minow
minow@thundr.enet.dec.com
The above does not represent the position of Digital Equipment Corporation