We have a tendency to be remarkably ethnocentric. When you apply for a
job, do you send them a copy of your RESUME?
There is an exit on 280 for "La Canada" road.
For most European languages (I did say MOST), an 8 bit extended ASCII
could be adequate.
"Recently" (1981), I was disappointed in IBM's character extensions for
the 5150. We got smiley faces, but not even pound-sterling nor Yen!
16 bits would presumably be adequate for designing a character set for
most phonetic alphabets. (I did say MOST).
When I got my Epson HC-20's (like the HX-20, but including Katakana), and
my Epson RC-20 (wristwatch, Z80 like, with RAM, ROM, and serial port)
I started to try to learn a little Japanese. I didn't get very far, but I
did at least learn the sounds of Katakana, and could sound out words
written in it (a LOT of computer materials use Katakana for non-Japanese
words, such as "monitor")
But, full inclusion of pictographic languages (Kanji, etc.) would require
more than 16 bits.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
