From: Language Analysis Systems, Inc. Unicode list reader (Unicode-mail@las-inc.com)
Date: Wed Dec 03 2003 - 12:00:21 EST
> In short, in any given locale, one should get the symbols of that
locale, out of the box. (And in my locale, that should include math and
> music symbols).
I question this.
On the one hand, I agree with you. As a musician, it's always bugged me
that I can't say "Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major" without
either spelling out "-Flat" or using a lowercase b as a kludge (at least
I can use the pound sign to say "Gershwin's Prelude No. 2 in C# Minor").
On the other hand, I'm probably not going to be using U+1D1A6 MUSICAL
SYMBOL HAUPTSTIMME or U+1D197 MUSICAL SYMBOL TURN unless I'm a musician
writing about music for an audience of musicians. Symbols like the
cut-time mark or the trable clef or the notes themselves are somewhere
in the middle.
Same thing with mathematical symbols. I'd be pretty upset if the plus
sign wasn't generally available, but I'm probably not going to be using
U+27E0 LOZENGE DIVIDED BY HORIZONTAL RULE unless I'm writing for a
really specialized audience. Things like the not-equal sign or the set
operators are somewhere in the middle. The math alphanumerics may
likewise be somewhere in the middle.
So the question is where you draw the line. It's clear that with
almost any set of signs and symbols there's a subset that's in general
common use and that most people know about and may want to use in their
writing. These should be implemented in most operating systems and, for
the most part, they are. But there's a much larger set that's really
only used within fairly tight communities; it's fair for these
communities to pay a little extra to get specialized software and/or
fonts that fill their needs. Especially since math and music (at least)
generally require special layout beyond what normal word processors can
do.
--Rich Gillam
Language Analysis Systems, Inc.
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