rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) (11/06/85)
[On extending to more than an 8-bit code...] > Let me make a more concrete proposal for a standard (although still pretty > vague). One needs an escape character from an 8-bit Acsii code. The obvious > choice for this is decimal 255 (hex FF)... Ack! (No, wait, ACK is 06...) Why is FF the "obvious choice"--do you really mean to use a code which is the analog of DEL in the upper half-plane, and a character which should NEVER be assigned magic significance. Do you really mean the character which represents one of the most likely transmission errors? What's wrong with ESC (stands for "escape"!) for an escape character? If we're going to talk standards, we had better start with EXISTING standards. You can find REAMS of existing information on code extension by standard techniques. >...Following the escape byte would > be a byte identifying the function. Functions include: > > * The following two bytes are a 16-bit character. > > * Change into 16-bit mode. > > * Specify the alphabet to be used for subsequent characters (e.g., Greek, > Cyrillic, Arabic, etc.) Techniques similar to this are defined for various purposes in several standards. -- Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303)444-5710 x3086 ...Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity.
franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams) (11/15/85)
In article <225@opus.UUCP> rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) writes: >> One needs an escape character from an 8-bit Acsii code. The obvious >> choice for this is decimal 255 (hex FF)... > >What's wrong with ESC (stands for "escape"!) for an escape character? If >we're going to talk standards, we had better start with EXISTING standards. >You can find REAMS of existing information on code extension by standard >techniques. OK, but I only want one byte following for the function code. None of this <ESC>[32;]p stuff. Frank Adams ihpn4!philabs!pwa-b!mmintl!franka Multimate International 52 Oakland Ave North E. Hartford, CT 06108