[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > >Yes, I think you're right that an annotation is best -- but only > > >if EMPTY SET is indeed the right character. I'm increasingly of > > >the opinion that a different character might be needed. > > > > I would disagree. > > As would I.
Oh dear, if you both disagree with me, my chances of getting through with this look slim indeed... :-) But I'm wondering why. I think we all agree on the following: - Ø [LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH STROKE] and ø [LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH STROKE] are both ruled out as their semantics is totally wrong. - 0 [DIGIT ZERO] is also ruled out because it looks wrong in most fonts (and one might argue that the semantics isn't exactly right, either). - ∅ [EMPTY SET] is the best choice if a single character has to be chosen from the current Unicode repertoire. - But while ∅ [EMPTY SET] is normally just as wide as it is tall (it's really just a circle with a stroke), the null symbol as used in linguistics frequently looks more like 0 [DIGIT ZERO] with an added stroke. (But many variations exist, including ∅ [EMPTY SET], ø [LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH STROKE] and other symbols, most of which can be explained by typesetters and word-processing programs that didn't know what they're doing.) - Furthermore, semantically an empty set is not really the same thing as a null symbol. (They both represent 'nothing', but so does 0 [DIGIT ZERO] and possibly other Unicode characters as well.) - However, 0 [DIGIT ZERO] + ̸ [COMBINING LONG SOLIDUS OVERLAY] -- which is close to how linguists used to type it in the old typewriter days -- is also a bad idea since it would look bad in most programs. If you agree with all of the above, I'm wondering what the argument is against a new Unicode character, called NULL or NULL SYMBOL. Surely if it looks different from any existing character and has a well-defining meaning also not covered, there must be a good case for adding it...? Cheers, Thomas -- Thomas Widmann, MA +44 141 419 9872 Glasgow, Scotland, EU [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.widmann.uklinux.net
