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Date/Time: Fri Jul 1 12:52:18 CDT 2022
Name: Asmus/
Report Type: Public Review Issue
Opt Subject: 449
An issue has been raised on the public mailing list by A. Prilop that points to the fact that the description of the Bidi Algorithm apparently fails to state the motivation for certain design decisions. For example, here's the entire paragraph summarizing the algorithm from the Intro: "Each character has an implicit bidirectional type. The bidirectional types left-to-right and right-to-left are called strong types, and characters of those types are called strong directional characters. The bidirectional types associated with numbers are called weak types, and characters of those types are called weak directional characters. With the exception of the directional formatting characters, the remaining bidirectional types and characters are called neutral. The algorithm uses the implicit bidirectional types of the characters in a text to arrive at a reasonable display ordering for text." Some of the goals for "reasonable" display ordering include: (1) getting the correct ordering of words when separated by punctuation (2) getting the correct ordering of groups of digits (3) getting the correct placement of numerical punctuation Each of those depends not only on adjacent characters but sometimes more distant context, or on the overall paragraph direction. Different writing systems differ, for example in the handling of different sets digits. This is reflected by specific bidirectional types for Arabic letters or different types of digits. --- Reverse engineering this motivation is not something that the reader of the spec should be required to do. A simple suggestion would be to include something like the preceding text immediately after the quoted passage. Alternatively, a paragraph summarizing the intent could be added in each section, or both.