From: Peter Kirk (peterkirk@qaya.org)
Date: Wed Apr 28 2004 - 14:12:22 EDT
On 28/04/2004 08:14, Language Analysis Systems, Inc. Unicode list reader
wrote:
> ...
>
>There's been a lot of discussion of the PUA in this forum over the time
>I've been on it, but I don't think I've heard anyone make the following
>point:
>
>If you're using the PUA outside a closed system, you're not using
>Unicode.
>
>The PUA is intended for the internal use of applications (or groups of
>applications), or for interchange between applications by private
>agreement of all parties involved. ...
>
This is not quite right. From TUS section 15.7,
http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode4.0.0/ch15.pdf:
> Private-use characters are assigned Unicode code points whose
> interpretation is not specified by this standard and whose use may be
> determined by private agreement among cooperating users.
Note the last word. The private agreement is not supposed to be between
all parties, including software developers. It is supposed to be between
*users*.
>... Writing a document in Microsoft Word
>using some exotic script that doesn't have plain-vanilla behavior
>violates this because Microsoft Word isn't a party to the private
>agreement. ...
>
Software developers, or applications, are not supposed to be party to
the agreement between *users*. While applications are of course not
obliged to support the PUA, if they choose to do so there should be no
expectation that they are party to any agreement. And so a group of
users with a private agreement can reasonably assume that software which
supports the PUA in general supports their particular agreement.
Of course applications may choose to support the PUA only with default
character properties. But that is a separate issue.
-- Peter Kirk peter@qaya.org (personal) peterkirk@qaya.org (work) http://www.qaya.org/
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