19 Jan
2011
19 Jan
'11
11:25 p.m.
On 1/19/2011 11:33 AM, Peter Dimov wrote:
This was the prevailing thinking once. First this number of bits was 16, which incorrect assumption claimed Microsoft and Java as victims, then it became 21 (or 22?). Eventually, people realized that this will never happen even if we allocate 32 bits per character, so here we are.
The OED lists ~600,000 words, so 32 bits is enough space to provide a fully pictographic alphabet for over 7,000 languages as rich as English, with room for a few line-drawing characters left over. Surely that's enough?