Re: missing glyph `dotlessj'

From: Joan Aliprand (BR.JMA@rlg.org)
Date: Wed Sep 17 1997 - 19:11:33 EDT


Berthold K.P. Horn <bkph@ai.mit.edu> wrote:
> I believe they [i.e., the Unicode Consortium] now consider the `combining
> accents' a mistake.

Totally false.

The eighth Unicode Design Principle is Dynamic Composition, which
entails the use of combining characters with base characters to
create composite forms (such as accented letters).

   The Unicode Standard allows for the dynamic composition of
   accented forms. Combining characters used to create composite
   forms are productive. Because the process of character
   composition is open-ended, new forms with modifying marks may be
   created from a combination of base characters followed by
   combining characters.
                     ("The Unicode Standard", Version 2.0, p. 2-9)

In the following section, "Equivalent Sequence", it says:

   Common precomposed forms such as U+00DC LATIN CPITAL LETTER U
   WITH DIAERESIS are included for compatibility with current
   standards.

Chapter 5, "Implementation Guidelines," includes substantial
sections on non-spacing marks (i.e., combining characters).

Non-spacing marks have been used by libraries in their data processing
since 1968. The inclusion of combining characters in the Unicode Standard
was based on technical considerations, but libraries are a user group that
needs these characters.

-- Joan Aliprand
   Senior Analyst, Research Libraries Group
   Chair, Unicode Technical Committee

To: UNICODE@UNICODE.ORG
cc: BKPH@AI.MIT.EDU



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