🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <723@inset.UUCP> jr@inset.UUCP (Jim R Oldroyd) writes:
>
>I believe that the time is now ripe for the computer world
>to take a jump from the traditional viewpoint and realize
>that users' requirements in these days of networks and
>typesetters are already far ahead of anything that an
>enhanced character set can provide.
>

The mention of typesetters shows the way to go. Instead of a concept of
character set we need the printer's concept of 'font'*. Ok, that makes
programming a little difficult (!) as you have to know which font you're
in so as to understand the significance of the character, but it does
allow you to manage user defined symbols in a much cleaner way, and may
mean that you can get away without having to extend the number of bits
in a character so as to cope with every possible character set in the
world as your fonts need only contain the characters that you want them to.

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Lindsay F. Marshall, Computing Lab., U of Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear, UK
  ARPA  : lindsay%cheviot.newcastle.ac.uk@ucl-cs.arpa
  JANET : lindsay@uk.ac.newcastle.cheviot
  UUCP  : <UK>!ukc!cheviot!lindsay
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* fount n. A complete assortment of types of one sort, with all that is
necessary for printing that kind of letter. - Also (esp. USA) font.
[Fr. fonte - fondre - L. fundere, to cast]
	Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary 1966 edition.