Re: Fun With Dates -- Need Help

On 1/19/25 11:36 AM, Farley Flud wrote:

On 18 Jan 2025 22:53:38 GMT, Stéphane CARPENTIER wrote:
 

>
It's completely that. Look at your claims: you say that UTF-8 is
important to write correctly mathematical symbols and you are unable to
write any French word when you try to impress I don't know who. You are
that limited that you can't even copy/paste my first name when you
write it. You are the perfect example of the limited American.
>

 You overlook the fact that the standard computer keyboard, when
faced with Unicode input, is extremely limited.
 No one, and that includes myself, wants to press multiple keys
in sequence or in combination just to enter a single character.
But it's not only pressing the keys.  It's also learning and remembering
the correct sequence/combination.
 Consider your name.  I can copy/paste:
 Stéphane
 But if I could not copy/paste then I would have to know the
correct sequence/combination of keys and I can't waste time with
learning something that I will use only very infrequently.
 The approximation, Stephane, although imperfect, is good enough
and no one should have any complaints.
 Unicode math symbols are extensive but, AFAIK, there are no
keyboards that contain even a partial subset of the symbols.
Instead, a complicated sequence/combination of key presses
is required for each symbol and such key presses often differ
with different software.  Entering math symbols is a huge
mess.
 I have already published on C.O.L.A. my X keyboard modification
to allow some Unicode math input.
 Just put the following file into /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols
and then change the keyboard overlay with:
 setxkbmap -layout mth
  Then you can enter the "integral" symbol by pressing Win+J,
where Win is the otherwise useless "Windows Menu" key on some
keyboards.
 This layout needs some work and is also DOES NOT WORK ON THAT
JUNK WAYLAND.
  ============================================================================
default partial
 xkb_symbols "mdc" {
   key <TLDE> { [ grave, asciitilde, U22A2, U22A3 ] };
  key <AE01> { [ 1, exclam, U2081, U21AF ] };
  key <AE02> { [ 2, at, U2082, U00BD ] };
  key <AE03> { [ 3, numbersign, U2083, U00A3 ] };
  key <AE04> { [ 4, dollar, U2084, U20AC ] };
  key <AE05> { [ 5, percent, U2085, U00B7 ] };
  key <AE06> { [ 6, asciicircum, U2086, U221A ] };
  key <AE07> { [ 7, ampersand, U2087, U2232 ] };
  key <AE08> { [ 8, asterisk, U2088, U221E ] };
  key <AE09> { [ 9, parenleft, U2089, U207B ] };
  key <AE10> { [ 0, parenright, U2080, U2205 ] };
  key <AE11> { [ minus, underscore, U2013, U2014 ] };
  key <AE12> { [ equal, plus, U2260, U2248 ] };
   key <AD01> { [ q, Q, U2203, U2200 ] };
  key <AD02> { [ w, W, U03C9, U03A9 ] };
  key <AD03> { [ e, E, U03B5, U2261 ] };
  key <AD04> { [ r, R, U03C1, U211D ] };
  key <AD05> { [ t, T, U03C4, U00DE ] };
  key <AD06> { [ y, Y, U2190, U21D0 ] };
  key <AD07> { [ u, U, U2194, U21D4 ] };
  key <AD08> { [ i, I, U2192, U21D2 ] };
  key <AD09> { [ o, O, U03B3, U0393 ] };
  key <AD10> { [ p, P, U03C0, U03A0 ] };
  key <AD11> { [ bracketleft, braceleft, U27E8, dead_ogonek ] };
  key <AD12> { [ bracketright, braceright, U27E9, dead_macron ] };
  key <BKSL> { [ backslash, U007C, dead_circumflex, dead_caron ] };
   key <AC01> { [ a, A, U03B1, U2933 ] };
  key <AC02> { [ s, S, U03C3, U03A3 ] };
  key <AC03> { [ d, D, U03B4, U211A ] };
  key <AC04> { [ f, F, U03C6, U21A6 ] };
  key <AC05> { [ g, G, U2202, U2207 ] };
  key <AC06> { [ h, H, U03B8, U2243 ] };
  key <AC07> { [ j, J, U222B, U0131 ] };
  key <AC08> { [ k, K, U03BA, U03BE ] };
  key <AC09> { [ l, L, U03BB,  U2113 ] };
  key <AC10> { [ semicolon, colon, dead_diaeresis, dead_tilde ] };
  key <AC11> { [ apostrophe, quotedbl, dead_acute, dead_grave ] };
   key <AB01> { [ z, Z, U2227, U2228 ] };
  key <AB02> { [ x, X, U2229, U222A ] };
  key <AB03> { [ c, C, U2208, U2209 ] };
  key <AB04> { [ v, V, U2282, U2284 ] };
  key <AB05> { [ b, B, U03B2, U03A8 ] };
  key <AB06> { [ n, N, U00AC, U2115 ] };
  key <AB07> { [ m, M, U03BC, U03B7 ] };
  key <AB08> { [ comma, less, U2234, U2264 ] };
  key <AB09> { [ period, greater, U25A1, U2265 ] };
  key <AB10> { [ slash, question, U2124, U221D ] };
   include "level3(win_switch)"
 };
=========================================================
  

If one is serious about it (and I was), one can create one's own characters in any language and use them with any keyboard pattern convenient to him. I did that with Commodore 64 for Persian! I printed out letters to my family in Iran using such characters that they had not seen in their lifetime back then. Very eloquently shaped and clear to read characters. I even made a key on keyboard to create my own name in handwriting style, what my family were familiar with in my handwritten letters :) They'd look at it under the magnifying glass and wonder what could produce that handwriting so accurately, using the dots and pixels that a funky printer had at its disposal.
I have a few copies of those letters somewhere, and once in a great while I come across them and wonder, myself, how nice the characters were :)