Usenet 1994 January/usenetsourcesnewsgroupsinfomagicjanuary1994.iso/sources/std_unix/volume.13/text0037.txt

Internet Message Format | 1988-04-18 | 18.1 KB

From: [e-mail] (Ghie-Hugh Song )

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
characters 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' does not 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
it's not because it is easy to use but because the text is portable
and sometimes it is more versatile than other PC word processors.   In fact,
without a laser printer or VorTeX and a graphics workstation, TeX is
not so useful as PC word processors.  So something should be 1) ASCII
text files for portability and 2) easy to use.  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
(IEEE CS/P1003), 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.

  I really do not know whether this effort is made first by me.
Nor do I know whether there exists such extended ASCII made by ANSI.
Since no text-mode terminal has inherent math fonts, I think there is no
such standard so far.

  More than one half of college graduates in the world are either
engineers, scientist, or medical doctors.  They need English with Greek
characters and math fonts to write reports, homeworks, papers. The need
sometimes exceeds that of their own language support.  They need
a knowledge bank that can save some great idea like

          E = h-bar.omega  : Einstein's photoelectric effect,
          E = mc^2         : Einstein's relativistic energy

without backslashes or $'s, and yet portable.

   Thank you for your attention.

                               G. Hugh Song

                               Coordinated Science Lab.
                               Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
                               1101 W. Springfield Av.
                               Urbana, IL 61801
                               [e-mail]

============================================================

   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 two 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 such as graphical framing characters
as in IBM PC or a triangle directing left for ^H, 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                              |  no matter what these are
| 10 ^p dle   90 mum  mouse upward movement   |  meta-control keys or
  11 ^q dc1   91 mrm  mouse right movement    |  escape sequences.
  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 \neq : not-equal sign '/=' in one character site
  24 $     a4 the Pound symbol (U.K. money unit)
  25 %     a5 \div : the division symbol, ':-' in one character site
  26 &     a6 \cap : 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 at the ' level that usually represents degree
  2b +     ab \pm   : '+-' in one character site with + up and - down.
  2c ,     ac the cedilla symbol without c, s, or C.
  2d -     ad \mp   : '-+' in one character site with - up and + down.
  2e .     ae \cdot : a dot at the center
  2f /     af $\dot $ : a dot at the top
| 30 0     b0 the bottom portion of the right parenthesis
  31 1     b1 \propto : the proportionality symbol, 'oc' in one character site
  32 2     b2 \bigcirc : a big circle.
  33 3     b3 \prime \prime \prime : tripple-prime
  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 \partial : the mirror image of '6'
  37 7     b7 \cup : the symbol in the set theory, that looks like 'U'
| 38 8     b8 \infty : the infinity symbol, 'oo' in one character site
  39 9     b9 the bottom portion of the left parenthesis
  3a :     ba $\ddot $ : the umlaut, two dots overhead.
  3b ;     bb \prime \prime : the double-prime
  3c <     bc \le    : '_<' in one character site
  3d =     bd \equiv : '=_' in one character site for the defining equality
  3e >     be \ge    : '_>' in one character site
  3f ?     bf \supset : superset symbol
| 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 \rightarrow : an arrow heading east
  43 C     c3 \copyright  : a small capital 'C' in a circle
  44 D     c4 \Delta
  45 E     c5 \in : 'an element of' symbol in set theory
  46 F     c6 \Phi
  47 G     c7 \Gamma
| 48 H     c8 \hbar  : accented italic h for the Planck constant
  49 I     c9 the top portion of the integral symbol
  4a J     ca the bottom portion of the integral symbol
  4b K     cb \simeq :a set symbol (obtained from U by rotating it 90 deg CW)
  4c L     cc \Lambda
  4d M     cd \subset: symbol in the set theory
  4e N     ce \nabla : inverted Greek-capital-Delta
  4f O     cf \Omega
| 50 P     d0 \Pi
  51 Q     d1 \Theta
  52 R     d2 \surd : also makes a \sqrt if combined with underlines (__)
  53 S     d3 \Sigma
  54 T     d4 the trade mark sign, the superscripted 'TM'
  55 U     d5 \Upsilon
  56 V     d6 \leftarrow : an arrow heading west
  57 W     d7 \ddag : the double dagger symbol used for a footnote.
| 58 X     d8 \Xi
  59 Y     d9 \Psi
  5a Z     da \downarrow : an arrow heading south.
  5b [     db \lceil : a vertical line whose top is clamped to the right
  5c \     dc \times : 'x' without serif, math symbol for a multiplication
  5d ]     dd \rceil : a vertical line whose top is clamped to the left
  5e ^     de $\check $ : an accent symbol inverted from '^'
  5f _     df $\overline $ : a long bar on top.
| 60 `     e0 \prime (60-hexdec is a back-prime)
  61 a     e1 \alpha
  62 b     e2 \beta
  63 c     e3 \chi
  64 d     e4 \delta
  65 e     e5 \epsilon
  66 f     e6 \phi
  67 g     e7 \gamma
| 68 h     e8 \eta
  69 i     e9 \iota
  6a j     ea \smallint : the integral symbol, enlongated s
  6b k     eb \kappa
  6c l     ec \lambda
  6d m     ed \mu
  6e n     ee \nu
  6f o     ef \omega
| 70 p     f0 \pi
  71 q     f1 \theta
  72 r     f2 \rho
  73 s     f3 \sigma
  74 t     f4 \tau
  75 u     f5 a wiggle positioned at the underline(_) level.
  76 v     f6 \vec the short arrow symbol that represents a vector
  77 w     f7 $\dagger $ : the dagger symbol used for a Hermitian conjugate
| 78 x     f8 \xi
  79 y     f9 \psi
  7a z     fa \zeta
  7b {     fb \lfloor : a vertical line whose bottom is clamped to the right
  7c |     fc \|      : two vertical lines in one character site
  7d }     fd \rfloor : a vertical line whose bottom is clamped to the left
  7e ~     fe \sim    : a wiggle positioned at the center level
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
  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 redesigned from the present
ones as follows:

  " 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
  _ 5f    the same comment as above so that it should be \underbar{ }
  | 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. I think this
              special function of this key is actually in the present
              ANSI standard.  You might have noticed that the UNIX 'man'ual
              pages contain '^H' 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.
              To edit this backspace we need a special character for
              this.  A hollow triangle dirrected to the left is good
              enough.  Also (Emacs maybe not on vi) will have  mode to view
              this while editing.
 ^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 leaving more space for the mouse?

=====================================End of draft=======

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.  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.

Volume-Number: Volume 13, Number 39