[css-syntax] Defining "character"

• From: Simon Sapin <simon.sapin@exyr.org>
• Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 12:30:46 +0100
• To: www-style@w3.org
• Message-ID: <5208C766.8040200@exyr.org>

Hi,

The ED uses the ambiguous word "character" all over the place without 
really defining it. The closest we have is in §3.2 The input byte stream:

> The input stream consists of the characters (individual unicode
> code-points) pushed into it as the input byte stream is decoded.

We should fix this in one of two ways:

1. Use "code point" or "Unicode code point" everywhere and avoid 
"character" entirely.

2. Have a normative definition near the beginning like this: "Within 
this specification, the ambiguous term <dfn>character</dfn> is used as a 
friendlier synonym for Unicode code point." This is what CSS Text does, 
except that there "character" means grapheme cluster rather than code point.


1. feels verbose, but 2. means two different definitions of the same 
term in two different spec, which definitely smells bad.

-- 
Simon Sapin

Received on Monday, 12 August 2013 11:31:10 UTC