Re: MARC and Unicode normalization forms

[Karen Coyle]

Simon, yes, I kind of assumed that C is considered the default, 
especially given that java language routines warn about it in their own 
default way. However, I heard from a Unicode org staff member (no longer 
there) that the technical committees were warming to D-composed because 
of the greater flexibility. Now, the big question is: does RDA itself 
have any preference? I suspect not, so we're back to library practice, 
and the fact that library transliteration has created some characters 
that can only be re-created in Unicode using D. Personally, I think that 
it might be necessary for libraries to re-examine why they are needing 
characters that no one else uses, and whether those should inform the 
library data future... but I think that's a discussion that we'll have 
later as we get further into data development.

kc

Simon Spero wrote:
On Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 7:38 PM, Karen Coyle <kco...@kcoyle.net> wrote:

  
Rebecca,

Thank you so much for looking into this. As I understand the Unicode normal
forms, it's not that one of them is more "correct" than others, it's a
matter of circumstance and your particular needs. It does look like it would
be good for program developers to document what form their program outputs
in an effort to "save the time of the user."
    


The W3C recommends NFC: http://www.w3.org/TR/charmod-norm/#sec-ChoiceNFC

As does "HOWTO Avoid Being Called a Bozo When Producing
XML<http://hsivonen.iki.fi/producing-xml/#nfc>"
(cited from: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-think35.html)

  

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