Re: character encoding assumptions and approaches

"LeVan,Ralph" wrote:

> Let's change the question slightly.  Why should the application know what
> kind of data it is returning?  Why should it behave differently for one kind
> of data than another?  Did you know that there is text embedded in JPEG
> files?

Actually no, my format experts here tell me that jpeg represents text as bits,
but they might be mistaken. In any case, certainly we wouldn't expect conversion
to utf-8 in mixed-content or print-format (e.g. pdf, postscript)  files.


>   I
> think you assume too much knowlege about MARC records and should treat them
> like any other record format.

If we define a utf-8 option bit, what do you think it should apply to then?

--Ray