231b3678@fergvax.unl.edu (Phil Dietz) (02/26/91)
Instead of having EVERY program break with a new 16-bit ASCII standard,
another option should be brought up.
Instead of saying ASCII will be made up of 65535 bytes; including all those
languages that MOST people will never use....I purpose a FILE header
scheme.
At the top of each application or file will be a 4byte code called LANG
then a LONG telling the program what language the program was designed
to be used in. This 4byte file header will be VERY similar to the
Amiga's IFF formats, and also familiar to the MAC's resource tracking
abilities.
ie LANG 00000001
where 00000001 tells to use ASCII 7-bit
00000002 EBCDIC
00000003 Western European (german, french, swedish, etc)
00000004 Eastern European (greek, romanian, russian)
00000005 North African
... etc.
00000010 KANJI pt 1
00000011 KANJI pt 2 etc.
...
00000020 Arabic etc.
Benefits: The program will still only utilize 8-bit character sets.
When a program needs, let's say a DJiboutian character set, the
** Operating SYSTEM ** will make the proper changes to switch from
8-bit ASCII to 8-bit DJiboutian. Keeping a LANG file header makes
the translations alot more invisible to the user. Instead of working
with 16-bit characters (and slowing programs down to a screeching halt!)
, this LANG purposal will tell the computer to substitte the character
set WHENEVER it's needed.
Flaws: Most operating systems will have to be modified to incorporate
the new system. The Amiga may only need to add a simple IFF reader to
the operating system in software, whereas some computers may need MORE
tweaking. Also, a way to use more than one character set in a file will
have to offered (continually scanning for LANG in a program causes a lot
of overhead)
I'm gonna cut it short. I know I didn't develop my ideas very well;
even keeping some DANGLING....but keeping my purposal short will allow
everyone else to fill in the missing data with their OWN ideas to tell
everyone.
Phil Dietz
---
FACT: the Nebraska Cornhuskers Phil Dietz
signed a contract to lose the 231b3678@fergvax.unl.edu
big games! Yes, it's true! Univ. of Nebraska