Re: Unicode in VFAT file system

[John Cowan]

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> Why does it say there are three varieties when a 16-bit datum can only be
> serialised in two orders? 

The simplest way to think about it is to remember that a MIME charset is meant
to provide *minimal* information for the receiver to convert bytes into
characters.  If the receiver gets FF FE 01 02, then it *must* be interpreted
as follows depending on the charset:

        UTF-16:   U+0201
        UTF-16BE: U+FFFE U+0102
        UTF-16LE: U+FEFF U+0201

For any given byte sequence, at most two of the charsets produce a meaningful
sequence of characters, since U+FFFE is not a character, but that doesn't
affect charset decoding.

-- 

Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis um dies! || John Cowan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Schliesst euer Aug vor heiliger Schau,  || http://www.reutershealth.com
Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau,           || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
Und trank die Milch vom Paradies.            -- Coleridge (tr. Politzer)