gs732@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu (Ghie-Hugh Song ) (05/12/88)
Hello, everyone,
Have you ever dreamed that TeX were more WYSWYG or that you could type
Greek characters in the text mode directly? If we had an extended
256 8-bit ASCII character set such as IBM PC's. (See Appendix of
PC DOS Manual), things would be much easier.
Then why not use WordPerfect or MS Word? First, all the Greek
charaters and the math symbols are not supported by them, unless we
buy extra software and hardware. In IBM's extended ASCII, there is
no 'Greek tau', 'Greek nu', or inverted Greek capital delta symbol
for partial differential equations. Even the registered trade mark
sign 'R in a circle' doesn't exist. Then you might ask why not ChiWriter
or T-cube? Simply they are not portable! They are graphics programs.
They are not public-domain. One of them is really expensive.
So TeX has been thought to be a better choice for technical writers. But
without a laser printer or VorTeX and a graphics workstation, TeX is
just a text file for the sake of portability. So something should be
an ASCII text file for portability. Then how about having Greek characters
and math symbols in the ASCII character set itself?
I've got an idea for all of us. And I wish to write a letter to
the ANSI people about a new 256 8-bit extended ASCII character standard.
But I don't know the ANSI's address. So if you agree with my idea,
please forward this message to ANSI with your opinion.
Let's have the Ext-key in our keyboard at the same location as the
'Alt' key in IBM's Enhanced keyboard. I am using the term 'Ext' to
distinguish it from GNU-Emacs' meta-editing keys. However, the real name
of the latter half of this extended ASCII set should be
'meta', since they call it in that way in the termcap files.
Ext-p (F0-hexdec) will give us a printable character Greek-pi,
and Ext-shift-p (D0-hexdec) will give us a printable character
Greek-Pi (captial-pi) directly.
IBM's Greek-pi is in E3 in hexadecimal which matches 'c' (63-Hexdec) among
128 7-bit ASCII codes. So every word processor is different in its way of
producing pi. It lowers the portability of word-processed texts.
At the end of this posting, I propose my draft. Please see and
examine it.
One may oppose this draft because the existing printers might not be used.
We can use those with a mere printer driver software with a translater
software as long as we do not type in the original text any one of the fonts
not supported by the printer.
I understand that the standardization of 8-bit extended ASCII
is too late. However I know that once this is implemented on
the new version of UNIX or POSIX, everyone will follow
this slowly. Now people are gathering to standardize UNIX, POSIX, SVID,
or whatever. Now is the time to express our opinion to ANSI people.
If we lose this chance we will never have a standard 8-bit ASCII.
If you agree with my idea, write a letter to ANSI, POSIX committee
(IEEE3001?), and the acting System V.4 committee members of
AT&T-Sun-Unisys immediately for their
prompt action. Unfortunately, I do not know any of those addresses.
Thank you for your attention.
G. Hugh Song
Coordinated Science Lab.
Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1101 W. Springfield Av.
Urbana, IL 61801
song@uispg.csl.uiuc.edu
============================================================
Here is my draft of 256 new 8-bit ASCII character set. I place the
second half of 8-bit characters (128-255) next to the first half of them.
I am not decisive on what to assign to the following Ext-control keys (80-
hexdec to 9f-hexdec). There are some options:
1) We can assign new control keys which have become neccessary
as the computer science evolves. Some examples are shown below.
I wish that someone in the field rearrage the assignment and
complete this, since I do not have enough knowledge and current
implementation status of i/o utilization.
2) Or we may give some freedom to the manufacturers of keyboard
and terminals.
Even though these (00-hexdec to 1f-hexdec and 80-hexdec to 9f-hexdec)
are not legitimately printable while editing a text file, I wish there are
corresponding printable characters, not just
as the current '^' which does not distinguish itself from 5e-hexdec.
It will ease debugging communication problems.
| 00 ^@ nul 80 sml decreases character size and increases back
01 ^a soh 81
02 ^b stx 82 bld boldifies and unboldifies (toggle)
03 ^c etx 83
04 ^d eot 84 dwn steps down one half line spacing
05 ^e enq 85
06 ^f ack 86
07 ^g bel 87 grp enters and exits graphics mode
| 08 ^h bs 88 hlp invokes help universally.
09 ^i ht 89 itl italicize and deitalicize from now
0a ^j nl 8a
0b ^k vt 8b mlm mouse left movement \
0c ^l np 8c mlb mouse left button |
0d ^m cr 8d mmb mouse middle button |
0e ^n so 8e mdm mouse downward movement | Important!
0f ^o si 8f |
| 10 ^p dle 90 mum mouse upward movement |
11 ^q dc1 91 mrm mouse right movement |
12 ^r dc2 92 mrb mouse right button /
13 ^s dc3 93 scr sripticizes or unscripticizes (toggle)
14 ^t dc4 94
15 ^u nak 95 up steps up one half line spacing
16 ^v syn 96 rev reverses or reverses back characters's black and white
17 ^w etb 97
| 18 ^x can 98
19 ^y em 99
1a ^z sub 9a
1b ^[ esc 9b atn escapes during communication calling attention of
the local control
1c ^\ fs 9c
1d ^] gs 9d
1e ^^ rs 9e
1f ^_ us 9f
Now in the following we have printable characters except the 'DEL'
key at the end of the lower 7-bit codes. The alt key may be used to send
the 8-bit code to the host computer
by simulating this key with kermit's 'set key' program such as in
MSFERMIT version 2.30.
For the 7-bit terminal environment, in which 8-bit signals are not
generated or received by the terminal,
such as VT100, it is desirable for the C-shell or the editor to have a key
which tells the host computer that the next key is one of the upper
8-bit codes (128-255). This key should not contradict with a control key
of the existing editor programs. The 'esc' key might be thought the best
choice. However, most editor programs use this key heavily for some other
purposes. To avoid conflict, the 'cr (Cntrl-m)' key, which is redundant
both in vi and in gnuemacs (You might have noticed notice that 'C-m' is
changed to 'nl (C-j)' automatically by both editors), may be used.
This will limit the use of the Meta key in our (or Stallman's) GNU-Emacs.
This actually means no revision in GNU-Emacs. We just use the ESC key
to invoke the Meta editing keys, although the keyboard has the Meta key.
This is the price we pay
for those Greek characters and the math symbols. If we use the 'Cntrl-h' for
the real backspace, we have to choose another key for
invoking 'help' in GNU-Emacs. How about the 'Ext-Cntrl-h' ('88-hexdec')
(or 'C-m C-h' on the 7-bit terminal) as a key for invoking help
in the future version (Ver. 19) of GNU-Emacs. This is the only change
which is not compatible to the present version (Ver.18).
I'd like to suggest that the 'Ext-Cntrl-h (88-hexdec)' or 'Cntrl-m Cntrl-
h' on the 7-bit terminal be a new standard key invoking help in e
very software package in the future. Isn't it a good idea?
| 20 sp a0 a horizontal bar longer than just '-'.
21 ! a1 a black square
22 " a2 the starting double quotation mark
23 # a3 not-equal sign '/=' in one character site
24 $ a4 the Pound symbol (U.K. money unit)
25 % a5 the division symbol, ':-' in one character site
26 & a6 the common set in set theory, The inverted 'U'.
27 ' a7 the starting single quatation mark
| 28 ( a8 the top portion of the left parenthesis
29 ) a9 the top portion of the left parenthesis
2a * aa a small circle that usually represents degree
2b + ab '+_' in one character site.
2c , ac the cedilla symbol without c, s, or C.
2d - ad '-+' in one character site with - up and + down.
2e . ae a dot at the center
2f / af a dot at the top
| 30 0 b0 the bottom portion of the right parenthesis
31 1 b1 the proportionality symbol, 'oc' in one character site
32 2 b2 a vertical line whose bottom is bowed to the right.
33 3 b3 a set symbol (obtained from U by rotating it 90 deg CCW)
34 4 b4 a vertical line with a wart in the middle as in '{'
35 5 b5 a vertical line with a wart in the middle as in '}'
36 6 b6 the mirror image of '6'
37 7 b7 the symbol in the set theory, that looks like 'U'
| 38 8 b8 the infinity symbol, 'oo' in one character site
39 9 b9 the bottom portion of the left parenthesis
3a : ba the umlaut, two dots overhead.
3b ; bb the double-prime
3c < bc '_<' in one character site
3d = bd '=_' in one character site for the defining equality
3e > be '_>' in one character site
3f ? bf .a wiggle positioned at the underline(_) level.
| 40 @ c0 the registered trademark sign, a small capital R in a circle
41 A c1 angstrom, a small circle on top of 'A'
42 B c2 an arrow heading east
43 C c3 the copyright symbol, a small capital 'C' in a circle
44 D c4 Greek capital Delta
45 E c5 'an element of' symbol in set theory
46 F c6 Greek capital Phi
47 G c7 Greek capital Gamma
| 48 H c8 accented italic h for the Planck constant in quantum mechanics
49 I c9 the top portion of the integral symbol
4a J ca the bottom portion of the integral symbol
4b K cb a set symbol (obtained from U by rotating it 90 deg CW)
4c L cc Greek capital Lambda
4d M cd 'x' without serif, math symbol for a multiplication
4e N ce nabula, inverted Greek-capital-Delta
4f O cf Greek capital Omega
| 50 P d0 Greek capital Pi
51 Q d1 Greek capital Theta
52 R d2 surd, usually used for a checking sign
53 S d3 Greek capital Sigma
54 T d4 the trade mark sign, the superscripted 'TM'
55 U d5 Greek capital Upsilon
56 V d6 an arrow heading west
57 W d7 the double dagger symbol used for a footnote.
| 58 X d8 Greek capital Xi
59 Y d9 Greek capital Psi
5a Z da an arrow heading south.
5b [ db a vertical line whose top is clamped to the right
5c \ dc negated 'one element of' in set theory.
5d ] dd a vertical line whose top is clamped to the left
5e ^ de an accent symbol inverted from '^'
5f _ df an overbar, a bar on top.
| 60 ` e0 a prime (60-hexdec is a back-prime)
61 a e1 Greek alpha
62 b e2 Greek beta
63 c e3 Greek chi
64 d e4 Greek delta
65 e e5 Greek epsilon
66 f e6 Greek phi
67 g e7 Greek gamma
| 68 h e8 Greek eta
69 i e9 Greek iota
6a j ea the integral symbol, enlongated s
6b k eb Greek kappa
6c l ec Greek lambda
6d m ed Greek mu
6e n ee Greek nu
6f o ef Greek omega
| 70 p f0 Greek pi
71 q f1 Greek theta
72 r f2 Greek rho
73 s f3 Greek sigma
74 t f4 Greek tau
75 u f5 a tripple prime
76 v f6 the arrow symbol that represents a vector. a step-up arrow
77 w f7 the dagger symbol often used for a footnote.
| 78 x f8 Greek xi
79 y f9 Greek psi
7a z fa Greek zeta
7b { fb a vertical line whose bottom is clamped to the right
7c | fc two vertical lines in one character site
7d } fd a vertical line whose bottom is clamped to the left
7e ~ fe double wiggle for an approximate equation
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7f del ff erh erase the character at the current cursor position
-------------------------------------------------------------
These all can be reside in the text mode in 8-bit mode so that any text
mode terminal can display them directly on the text mode screen.
The possible benefit of this extension is:
1. If every typesetting program is revised according to the new standard,
they will become more WYSWYG. It means we do not need to type the '\alpha'
while typing a TeX file.
2. The wordprocessor and the typesetting programs will be cheaper since they
do not need to include soft-font files or the hard font ROM.
3. The word processor files can easily be exported and imported from one
word processor file to another without losing special characters as
long as they reside in 256 character set.
In addition to this new extended ASCII, I think that some of the
present ASCII characters should be revised from the present
ones.
" 22 should be designed to look more like the closing double
quotation mark as in typeset books.
' 27 the closing single quotation mark or apostrophe
same comment as above (" 22-hexdec)
* 2a position this a little higher than the present height
so that it looks like a footnoting symbol, not like a multiplication
symbol.
/ 2f stretch this so that two of these can be connected without breaking
to make a long slanted line.
\ 5c the same comment as above (/ 2f-hexdec)
| 7c make this a single long vertical line rather than the present
one broken at the middle.
The current ANSI standard for erasing the previous character is DEL,
not backspace! Let us encourage everyone to observe this standard.
I know that the troublemaker IBM does not follow this standard.
Let them go their way. We do not care for IBM. We are talking about UNIX
and GNU-Emacs and TeX. Then backspace will do the following job in
GNU-Emacs and vi.
^h 08 bs a backspace key without erasing the previously typed
character, making an overprinted image when printed. This
key is actually in the present ANSI standard. You might have
noticed that the UNIX 'man'ual pages contain this in their
text files for underlining.
It seems now fully supported by most ANSI terminals. (But not on
IBM's) Nevertheless, it is not supported by vi or GNU-Emacs.
Let's encourage Mr.Stallman to support this in his new
version of GNU-Emacs. It will display every accented
vowel for foreign alphabets, the
cent (money unit), some foreign money units, the C-cedilla
('Ext-,-backspace-c'), and the null set symbol ('0/' in one
character site.
^m 0d met In due consideration, the mnemonic should be changed from
'cr' to 'met'a.
==========================================
KEYBORAD
-----------------
This part is not part of my proposal. I just wish that the new ANSI
ASCII keyboard has the following keys. One may assign some
function keys for the following purposes. But it goes
without saying that separate keys at the space bar level are more desirable.
For text/graphics terminals
Italic key : italicizes the normal character. this key should be active
only on the alpabetic characters, Greek capital characters,
but not on numeric characters, symbols like '%', '+', '"',etc.
On a black-and-white text-mode-only terminal which does not have
ROM to support various fonts (such as VT100),
it would be desirable if this key reverses white and black
of those characters between the two italic keys.
Black becomes white, white becomes black. (Toggle)
Bold key : boldens or highlights a character. (Toggle)
For graphics terminals
Step-up key : moves the position 1/2-line higher. and then step down key
to go back to the original line height.
Step-down key : moves the position 1/2-line lower. and then step-up key
to go back.
Script key : displays the scripted characters. (Toggle)
Small character key : displays small characters from now and restores the
size back. (Toggle)
As to the Keyboard Layout,
We do not need to have the editing keypad on the right.
Why don't we move it to the left?
=====================================End of draft=======
I really do not know whether this effort is made first by me.
People in the Department of Mathematical Science at New Mexico
State University made a draft on alt-key binding similar to mine
(See T-cube Manual p.99) I do not know that whether they tried to set
a new 8-bit extended ASCII or just the keyboard bindings to use
the alt-keys while using 'T-cube' internally.
P.S. At first, I did not intend to do this as a project. However
it turned out to be a big project. Now I want to drop
this project and let this free to the public by posting at
the news system here in the news system. I hope everybody to express their
opinion and fruitful discussion here. And fianlly I hope to see ANSI
or POSIX committee act.
Please start this project and act, ANSI.ct@dde.UUCP (Claus Tondering) (06/03/88)
In article <7806@mcdchg.UUCP> gs732@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu (Ghie-Hugh Song ) writes: > I've got an idea for all of us. And I wish to write a letter to >the ANSI people about a new 256 8-bit extended ASCII character standard. > > I understand that the standardization of 8-bit extended ASCII >is too late. However I know that once this is implemented on >the new version of UNIX or POSIX, everyone will follow >this slowly. Now people are gathering to standardize UNIX, POSIX, SVID, >or whatever. Now is the time to express our opinion to ANSI people. >If we lose this chance we will never have a standard 8-bit ASCII. Your idea of an extended ASCII is not new. In fact the International Standardization Organization (ISO), of which ANSI is a member, has already adopted an extended ASCII character set. It is known as ISO 8859. The idea has been to extend ASCII with various characters used in languages other than English. Almost all non-English languages have special letters (think, for example, of the French accented letters, the Spanish n with tilde, etc.). ISO 8859 is actually not one standard but several: ISO 8859/1 is ASCII extended with the letters used in the western European languages. ISO 8859/2 is ASCII extended with the letters used in the eastern European languages. ISO 8859/3 is ASCII extended with the letters used in the languages spoken around the Mediterranean. ISO 8859/4 is ASCII extended with the letters used in the nothern European languages. ISO 8859/5 is ASCII extended with the letters used in the Cyrillic alphabet (i.e. Russian, Bulgarian, etc.). ISO 8859/6 is ASCII extended with the Arabic letters. ISO 8859/7 is ASCII extended with the Greek letters. ISO 8859/8 is ASCII extended with the Hebrew letters. The ISO 8859 standard is nice and useful, it is, however, unfortunate to have 8 standards instead of just one. Adopting your proposal will be unfortunate for two reasons: 1) It would alienate the USA from the rest of the world. If the USA used an extended ASCII without the national characters used in French, German, Spanish, etc., those countries would have to follow a separate path in the computer industry. 2) It would confuse the ISO 8859 abundance of standards further. -- Claus Tondering Dansk Data Elektronik A/S, Herlev, Denmark E-mail: ct@dde.dk or ...!uunet!mcvax!diku!dde!ct -------------------------------------------- [Also, in the same vein...] From: rja@edison.GE.COM (rja) Organization: GE-Fanuc North America There is a 8-bit character set standard already. ISO 8859 is it. Most of the X/OPEN member companies are implementing support for the western European variant (ISO 8859/1) already. See the exchanges on this in comp.std.internat and comp.std.unix for more details. -------------------------------------------- [And ...] From: glennw@Sun.COM (Glenn P. Wright) I think all of this has already been done in the ISO 8859 standard extension to ISO 2022. Have you read this. In particular IS 8859/7 handles greek. Glenn Wright {..}glennw@sun, or, {..}sun!glennw ============ Sun Microsystems Inc, Mountain View, California, USA. Tel: (415) 960 1300