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Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!harvard!think!ima!johnl
From: johnl@ima.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.internat
Subject: Re: Escape chars etc.
Message-ID: <125100002@ima.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 7-Nov-85 22:33:00 EST
Article-I.D.: ima.125100002
Posted: Thu Nov  7 22:33:00 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 9-Nov-85 06:31:06 EST
References: <485@harvard.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:harvard:-48500:ima:125100002:000:1041
Nf-From: ima!johnl    Nov  7 22:33:00 1985


/* Written  4:59 pm  Nov  7, 1985 by macrakis@harvard in ima:net.internat */
> Representing multiple character sets with shifts has been suggested on
> this list.  Roy Smith points out that this would cause great
> difficulties in using Unix tools, for instance:
> > Guess what breaks:
> > 	Tail -- you [have to] track the shift commands.
> > 	Grep -- should grep track the shift commands...
> > Do you now need a shift-optimizing filter ...?

Sounds to me like it's a bad idea to have shift sequences with global
effect, which is not too surprising.  If we declare that each line has to
be self-describing, with appropriate shift sequences at the beginning if
it is in other than the standard character set, that makes it entirely
possible to make tail, grep, and such work.

I think that we need to examine our conventions and assumptions about our
conventions very carefully, and if we do, we can come up with a set that
makes it possible to get work done without having to rewrite every
bit of code from scratch.

John Levine, ima!johnl