RE: proposal: UTF-20

From: Hart, Edwin F. (Edwin.Hart@jhuapl.edu)
Date: Mon Jan 25 1999 - 15:53:52 EST


I'd like a global summary in relation to other ways to represent
Unicode/10646 data and not need to worry about the details to understand
your proposal.

Without delving into the details, it appears that your proposal

1. Restricts UTF-16 to 20 bits of code positions (and thereby removes
plane 16)
2. Proposes some limitations on UTF-8 or a completely new UTF to use at
most 5 hex digits to represent a code point in the Unicode code space.

Moreover, if adopted, it appears that you would like to see this proposal
supercede and make other UTFs obsolete.

Personally, although I am unaware of any UTC requirements for structuring
changes to the architecture, I would like to see this proposal restructured
into an outline something like the following. As a person who has written a
few of these (and incorrectly made my suggest solution the requirement), I
would suggest writing it and then carefully rethinking where your points fit
into the outline.

Title: UTF-20
Requirement Statement:
  What set of requirements must be satisfied by any solution? What are
desirable but not mandatory requirements for a solution?
Problem Statement
  What problem are you trying to solve?
  Why current solutions, etc., are causing you problems or unduly restrict
you?
Justification
  Business case to justify solving the problem. Why should this change be
made? What are the costs in doing this? What are the costs in not doing
it?
Suggested Solution

Ed Hart

Edwin F. Hart
Applied Physics Laboratory
11100 Johns Hopkins Road
Laurel, MD 20723-6099
+1-240-228-6926 (from Washington, DC area)
+1-443-778-6926 (from Baltimore area)
+1-240-228-1093 (fax)
edwin.hart@jhuapl.edu <mailto:edwin.hart@jhuapl.edu>



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