From: Tex Texin (tex@i18nguy.com)
Date: Fri Sep 27 2002 - 12:34:48 EDT
William Overington wrote:
> >Message catalogs are not new.
>
> I had not heard the description "Message catalog" previously, so I can
> search for that too.
>
> I have previously searched under telegraphic code and language and
> translation.
look for: software localization, message, catalog, resource files,
perhaps localisation ;-)
>
> An email correspondent drew my attention to the following list of "numbered
> radiograms".
>
> http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/forms/fsd3.html
>
> That is an interesting document.
>
> I have not yet found any example oriented to language translation. I have
> not yet found any example oriented to carrying on a complete conversation.
A new prisoner sits down for his first lunch. Someone shouts out 53.
Everyone laughs.
Another shouts 26. More laughter. He asks his neighbor what's going
on... The neighbor explains they have all been there so long they have
heard all the jokes told very many times. Finally they just gave them
numbers. So when someone shouts out a number they remember the joke and
laugh.
After a bit the new guy shouts out: 42! Dead silence. He asks his
neighbor what went wrong. He turns to him and says" "That one is not
funny.".
This is a very old joke. It is an indication of how old the idea of
numbered messages might be. ;-)
The arrl list was missing quite a few. 73 & 88 were common for "Best
regards", and "love and kisses".
I was rather surprised therefore when the Target products with "88" were
recently pulled from the market because they signaled the neo-nazi
movement. I thought it meant Love and kisses.
> >A proprietary coding system is a bad idea.
>
> Well, it depends what one is trying to do.
Yes, for the problem you described, given the availability of an open
system, with lots of tool support, creating a proprietary system in
which you could not create nearly as many tools as the open-based
systems, it would not be competitive. You would really have to build in
some significant market advantage. Given your lack of familiarity with
what exists in the market, and a presumption of a one-man shop (limited
resources), we speculated it was a mistake.
> >XML is the way to go.
>
> Maybe, maybe not. The issue of U+003C being used to mean LESS-THAN SIGN in
> documents which mix ordinary text and markup may or may not, depending upon
> the application, be a problem.
You can use the character with some minor escaping. It is a smaller
issue than trying to create all the various tools and benefits you would
get from XML.
> >but as Peter and others have already defined
> >several times where the envelope needs pushing (e.g. XML), and in
> >particular where they should not (private encodings, and hi level
> >application semantics assigned to particular code points), continued
> >attempts to do so are not welcome.
>
> What is wrong with private encodings? The Private Use Area is there to be
> used.
Sure, but use them privately and discuss them privately with people who
have an interest in those particular purposes.
This is not the place. I know this has been stated before.
I think Suzanne or Barry even created a list for purposes of PUA
discussion:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CharMan/
Or start a list of your own.
You are welcome (as are others) to send announcements here saying- "Hey
I have these PUA ideas, and would like to discuss them here and here."
It is really quite unfair to the members of the list to cause it to go
over the same ground.
hth
tex
-- ------------------------------------------------------------- Tex Texin cell: +1 781 789 1898 mailto:Tex@XenCraft.com Xen Master http://www.i18nGuy.com XenCraft http://www.XenCraft.com Making e-Business Work Around the World -------------------------------------------------------------
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