Could someone please explain why the data tables for ISO 15924 list both
"codes" and "ID"s? ("ID"s are not discussed in the text of the
standard.)I find the inclusion of both under these labels somewhat less than ideal. The term "code" is not consistently used. Most people do use "code" to refer to a symbol (such as an alpha-4 string) that denotes some entity or category; and some standards also use the term in that way. But other standards use "code" to refer to a collection of such symbols. For instance, ISO 639-1 clearly treats "code" as the collection, and calls the individual entries "code elements"; the alpha-2 symbols in ISO 639-1 are "identifiers". Nowhere have I seen the symbols called "codes" when they weren't also called "identifiers". Until now. So, having learned to avoid the ambiguity of the word "code" and to always use "identifier" (or "ID") instead, now in the case of ISO 15924 that doesn't work since the "ID" is something different. (The "ID" appears to be a locale-independent reference name that is structured in a way that allows it to be used in higher-level identifier protocols, but in the context of ISO 15924, I would not call it the "ID".) Peter Peter Constable Globalization Infrastructure and Font Technologies Microsoft Windows Division
