jxh@apple.com (07/27/89)
Did anyone else spot this in comp.lang.postscript?: [...body deleted...] > >Call 1-88-83-FONTS to get a copy of the "Font and Function" catalog > >for more details.... > Hmmm... I only have digits on my telephone dial. How do the letters ^^^^^^ > map to digits? > Jan Michael Rynning, jmr@nada.kth.se > Department of Numerical Analysis If you can't fully handle domains: > and Computing Science, ARPA: jmr%nada.kth.se@uunet.uu.net > Royal Institute of Technology, UUCP: {uunet,mcvax,...}!nada.kth.se!jmr > S-100 44 Stockholm, BITNET: jmr@sekth > Sweden. Phone: +46-8-7906288 Surprise! The world is not the same as the USA! Personally, I find alphabetic phone numbers vexing to dial, even when the DTMF pad is labelled so nicely, as it is here in WE territory (read: WEstern hemisphere?) My index finger can't read. I admit that I have an exceptional facility with 7-digit numbers, (I memorized 50 digits of pi, 7 at a time. See .sig if you don't believe me.) so I suppose I can't say that they're generally easier to remember than names, but I find this trend disturbing and was delighted to find a pin with which to prick it, namely (apparently) lack of an international standard on a mapping of letters to digits. Just another way the rest of the world can find to become annoyed with American arrogance? BTW, I haven't read this group before, but I think I shall start. Please accept my apologies if this has all been hashed out recently. -Jim Hickstein jxh@cup.portal.com ...!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!jxh Nothing to do with the bozos here that get all the publicity: I'm a client, not an employee. PI to 50 digits: 3.14159 26535 8979323 84626 4338327 9502884 1971693 9937510 ^^^^^ ^^^^^ well, nobody's perfect. Has a nice metre. ^ "point" sounds like a digit
lars@salt.acc.com (Lars J Poulsen) (07/29/89)
In a message in comp.lang.postscript, Jan Michael Rynning <jmr@nada.kth.se> (in Stockholm) writes: >> >Call 1-88-83-FONTS to get a copy of the "Font and Function" catalog >> >for more details.... >> Hmmm... I only have digits on my telephone dial. How do the letters > ^^^^^^ >> map to digits? In article <telecom-v09i0259m05@vector.dallas.tx.us> portal!cup.portal.com!jxh@apple.com writes: >Surprise! The world is not the same as the USA! Personally, I find >alphabetic phone numbers vexing to dial, even when the DTMF pad is labelled >so nicely, my index finger can't read. The mapping of letetrs to digits differs in various countries. While it was originally introduced to aid in the transition from exchange names to all-digit dialling, it took on new life with the introduction of vanity 800-numbers. For the record of overseas readers, the US mapping is: 1 ABC -> 2 DEF -> 3 GHI -> 4 JKL -> 5 MNO -> 6 PRS -> 7 TUV -> 8 WXY -> 9 star = * "oper"=0 hash = # (some phones have QZ on the 0 key) I cannot remember the Danish mapping, except that "C" was on the "1"; a remnant from when the original Copenhangen exchange became "CEntral". What may be even more surprising to insular Americans is that the allocation of dial pulses to digits is not universal. There are a total of 4 different mappings (counterclockwise from 3-o'clock): (a) 0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 (Used in UK, I think) (b) 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0 (Used in Denmark) (c) 0-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 (d) 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-0 Obviously, this created a lot of technical problems for international connectivity until the better standardized DTMF signaling became universal. And to my embarrassment, I can't even remember which way the US rotary dial is laid out. It's been so long since I last saw one. / Lars Poulsen <lars@salt.acc.com> (800) 222-7308 or (805) 963-9431 ext 358 ACC Customer Service Affiliation stated for identification only My employer probably would not agree if he knew what I said !!