Re: example tables (Braille notes)

I was surprised by the idea that numerals would require a prefixed
shift character in Braille.  So Jason expanded a little for me.
I hope he will forgive my spreading it around.

-- Al

----- Forwarded message from Jason White -----

From jasonw@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU  Sat Nov  8 03:44:41 1997
Date: Sat, 8 Nov 1997 19:44:08 +1100 (AEDT)
From: Jason White <jasonw@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU>
X-Sender: jasonw@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU
To: Al Gilman <asgilman@access.digex.net>
Subject: Re: example tables
In-Reply-To: <199711071744.MAA07303@access5.digex.net>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.95.971108193538.14863A-100000@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU>

Al,

Braille is a very interesting medium in that its signs have no intrinsic
semantic content, but acquire meanings only in relation to specific coding
schemes. This is similar to binary numbers as they are used in the
representation of text: their meanings depend on the character set which
is in use.

In the North American computer braille system, numbers do not require a
shift character. Uppercase letters and certain other characters from the
ASCII set need to be escaped. This is due to their being only 64 signs,
including the space, available in six-dot braille. The computer braille
code also includes a continuation sign which indicates that a line of text
extends beyond a single braille line. It is used for the representation of
program code and is thus designed to give an exact correspondence with the
ASCII character set. The continuation signs allow the format of the text
as it would appear on screen to be retained.

This kind of computer braille notation is not used in general reading but
only for the transcription of program code.

English literary braille employs both a numeral sign and a capital sign
which must precede all uppercase letters. Uppercase words are indicated
with a double capital sign before the first letter.

Regards,

Jason.


----- End of forwarded message from Jason White -----

Received on Saturday, 8 November 1997 10:43:44 UTC