Re: ? Reasonable to propose stability policy on numeric type = decimal

From: Mark Davis ☕ (mark@macchiato.com)
Date: Sat Jul 24 2010 - 20:47:52 CDT

  • Next message: Kent Karlsson: "Re: ? Reasonable to propose stability policy on numeric type = decimal"

    Michael, what you are also probably not realizing is that the request is not
    for *all* numbers, but for decimal numbers (general_category=decimal_number)

    http://unicode.org/cldr/utility/list-unicodeset.jsp?a=[:general_category:decimal_number
    :]

    From just a quick scan, it appears that they are currently all contiguous
    within their respective groups. If we were to impose a stability policy, it
    would be a constraint on the general_category: we would not
    assign general_category=decimal_number to any character unless it was part
    of a contiguous range of 10 such characters with ascending values from 0..9.

    That would, of course, have some bearing on encoding,
    since general_category=decimal_number is important for interpreting values,
    if the characters are indeed part of a decimal system.

    As for Asmus's concern, it is real; it is when we know that characters are
    numeric, but don't realize that they could be used as part of a decimal
    system. In practice we might be able to accomodate it by anticipating the
    issue: putting characters with values 0-9 in a contiguous range, leaving
    holes if there is a missing one (typically zero).

    Mark

    *— Il meglio è l’inimico del bene —*

    On Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 18:09, Michael Everson <everson@evertype.com> wrote:

    > On 25 Jul 2010, at 02:02, Bill Poser wrote:
    >
    > > As I said, it isn't a huge issue, but scattering the digits makes the
    > programming a bit more complex and error-prone and the programs a little
    > less efficient.
    >
    > But it would still *work*. So my hyperbole was not outrageous. And nobody
    > has actually scattered them. THough there are various types of "runs" in
    > existing encoded digits and numbers.
    >
    > Believe it or don't. But I suspect I've been responsible for more of the
    > encoded numbers than any other person is.
    >
    > Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com/
    >
    >
    >
    >



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