From: Peter Constable (petercon@microsoft.com)
Date: Thu May 20 2004 - 10:59:58 CDT
Could someone please explain why the data tables for ISO 15924 list both
"codes" and "ID"s? ("ID"s are not discussed in the text of the
standard.)
I find the inclusion of both under these labels somewhat less than
ideal. The term "code" is not consistently used. Most people do use
"code" to refer to a symbol (such as an alpha-4 string) that denotes
some entity or category; and some standards also use the term in that
way. But other standards use "code" to refer to a collection of such
symbols. For instance, ISO 639-1 clearly treats "code" as the
collection, and calls the individual entries "code elements"; the
alpha-2 symbols in ISO 639-1 are "identifiers".
Nowhere have I seen the symbols called "codes" when they weren't also
called "identifiers". Until now. So, having learned to avoid the
ambiguity of the word "code" and to always use "identifier" (or "ID")
instead, now in the case of ISO 15924 that doesn't work since the "ID"
is something different.
(The "ID" appears to be a locale-independent reference name that is
structured in a way that allows it to be used in higher-level identifier
protocols, but in the context of ISO 15924, I would not call it the
"ID".)
Peter
Peter Constable
Globalization Infrastructure and Font Technologies
Microsoft Windows Division
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