Exceptions (was: Re: sharp s (Eszett))

[Martin Duerst]

At 17:51 08/03/08, Patrik F$BgM(Btstr$B‹N(B wrote:

>I do not like exceptions as that forces the IETF to make decisions on  
>codepoints on a codepoint by codepoint basis. I rather see IETF make  
>decisions based on what properties are ok or not.
>
>That said, we already have some exceptions, but, they are rare and I  
>want us all to understand what is means to add an exception to  
>category F. It implies the IETF create an exception rule that  
>"overrides" what decisions are made by the Unicode Consortium.  
>Something we can do (and we have some suggestions, see below), but  
>they are still "exceptions".

In the many years I have worked on Internationalization,
only very, very few general principles have survived, but
some of them apply here:

1) Writing has been used in such a large variety of ways that
   you'll always be able to find an exception if you make a rule.
2) Principle 1) applies in particular if you look at big numbers
   (such as all of the characters in Unicode)
3) Rules made for one purpose often can be reused for another
   purpose, but some adjustment is often necessary.

Given that the Unicode Consortium doesn't have any "IDN" property,
the principles above very strongly suggest that we will have
exceptions.

Regards,    Martin.


#-#-#  Martin J. Du"rst, Assoc. Professor, Aoyama Gakuin University
#-#-#  http://www.sw.it.aoyama.ac.jp       mailto:duerst at it.aoyama.ac.jp