Re: coding system

[B.T. Raven]

"Reiner Steib" <reinersteib+from-uce@imap.cc> wrote in message
v9eke1krsl.fsf@marauder.physik.uni-ulm.de">news:v9eke1krsl.fsf@marauder.physik.uni-ulm.de...
> On Sun, Mar 27 2005, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
>
> > That is precisely so: Emacs 21.x treats Latin-N character sets as
> > disjoint, so they are represented by different codes internally.
> >
> > The CVS version introduces features (unification on en- and
decoding)
> > that make this distinction less visible, and work is under way on a
> > Unicode-based Emacs where the distinction will go away entirely.
>
> In case you refer to `unify-8859-on-{en,de}coding-mode', those are
> already included in Emacs 21.3 and 21.4 (but not in 21.1 and 21.2):
>
> ,----[ NEWS ]
> | ** Translation tables are available between equivalent characters in
> | different Emacs charsets -- for instance `e with acute' coming from
the
> | Latin-1 and Latin-2 charsets.  User options
`unify-8859-on-encoding-mode'
> | and `unify-8859-on-decoding-mode' respectively turn on translation
> | between ISO 8859 character sets (`unification') on encoding
> | (e.g. writing a file) and decoding (e.g. reading a file).  Note that
> | `unify-8859-on-encoding-mode' is useful and safe, but
> | `unify-8859-on-decoding-mode' can cause text to change when you read
> | it and write it out again without edits, so it is not generally
advisable.
> | By default `unify-8859-on-encoding-mode' is turned on.
> `----
>
> Bye, Reiner.

Thanks Eli and Reiner.  My problem is that the unify directives don't
work on the NT build of emacs 21.3, at least not for those 4-byte buffer
representations of Unicode characters outside the Latin-1 range. Once I
have saved the file as utf-8, these characters are invisible to isearch,
replace, etc.  I tried to follow someone's (Stefan's?) suggestion to
Google around for a CVS binary for w32 but I couldn't find anything. I
downloaded WinCVS in the hope that I might be able to figure out how
make an NT build from sources but that program just locked up my
machine. It's probably for the best since I suspect that I'm out of my
depth trying to use gcc with mingw libraries. "Hello, world" is more my
speed.

I read somewhere that a collation scheme and algorithm have been
developed by the Unicode consortium (version 4.0) that would allow
sorting of even Latin, Arabic, and Mandarin characters in the same file.
I don't need that but it would be nice to have it work with Latin,
Greek, and Hebrew.

Btw, (kibitzing anent the "newbie friendly Emacs" thread) although I
agree that the editor shouldn't be crippled or dumbed down  to
accomodate those whose sensibilities have been perverted by Mr. Gates'
OS, it would be nice if the CUA mode actually worked. Maybe C-c x, C-c
c, C-c v could be dedicated temporarily for newbie mode. It might not be
going too far even to provide a couple of "wean" modes that would enable
new users to graduate from the MS bindings to the more sensible Emacs'
ones. Even more useful would be an Emacs "typing tutor" program that
exercises the Ctl and Alt (Meta)* combinations. People who have worn
deep grooves into their brains by using MS programs need to hear more
than "get used to it" if they are going to make the switch to Emacs
permanent.

That RMS wants to give emacs more word processor capabilities is a
welcome development and a shrewd move but if he wants to alienate the
affections of wiser heads for their Windows applications, he should
realize that the potential of emacs for those who are not programmers is
great enough that considerations affecting (hopefully former) MS'
program users should be more than an after-thought.

Thanks again,

Ed

* What's the best keyboard to use with Emacs? Is there one with Super,
Hyper, etc. keys that could be made to work with the w32 version of
Emacs? Is there a keyboard whose layout is more perfectly symmetrical?
There is one useless Win key between my left Ctl and Alt and two of them
between my right Ctl and Alt.  Anyone here using a Dvorak layout?