From: John Hudson (tiro@tiro.com)
Date: Tue Aug 02 2005 - 12:35:49 CDT
Gregg Reynolds wrote:
> Adding to the already existing - what, 5? 6? - different ways of
> encoding each digit. Let's count the ways:
>
> 0030-0039 DIGIT ZERO etc
> 0660-0069 ARABIC-INDIC
> 06F0-06F9 EXTENDED ARABIC-INDIC
> 0966-096F DEVANAGARI
> 09E6-09EF BENGALI
> 0A66-0A6F GURMUKHI
> 0AE6-0AEF GUJARATI
> Oriya, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Thai, Lao, Tibetan,
> Myanmar, Ethiopic, Khmer, Mongolian, Limbu, Osmanya, various
> mathematical digit characters, Japanese full-width, etc. etc. Twenty
> one and counting.
Most of which look different, some of which function differently (i.e. use different
counting systems that do not correspond to our decimal digit system). I don't think there
is any expectation that one would be able to perform cross-script arithmetic using
Mongolian and Ethiopic numeral characters. What you are proposing is something quite
other: two ways of encoding the *same* numerals. Your new numerals would look the same,
represent the same numbers, need to be considered the same for searches, sorts and
mathematical functions. They would be, in fact, the same characters encoded twice.
But this is the kicker, as already mentioned yesterday: *all* those numerals characters
you listed share the same directionality, and all numbers in Unicode are encoded
most-significant digit first. Maybe if computing had been invented in the Middle East it
would be the other way around, with the least significant digit encoded first, and the
various standards would oblige all LTR writing systems to function bidirectionally with
regard to numerals.
Now, when it comes to things like parentheses, the mirrored stuff does my head in and I
really don't see the point of it. I'm guessing that it confuses application developers
also, since it is implemented with so little consistency.
JH
-- Tiro Typeworks www.tiro.com Vancouver, BC tiro@tiro.com Currently reading: Dining on stone, by Iain Sinclair
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