dse > Charset - an arbitrarily ordered numerical mapping of
dse > a collection of conventionalized symbols usefull in
dse > written comunication.
How about changing it slightly like this:
Charset - an algorithm for converting between octet
streams and sequences of symbols useful in written
communication.
"arbitrary" reflects the fact that the codes may not be usefully ordered for
collation or translation to other Charsets or any other particular purpose.
Yes, but the word "arbitrary" does not add anything crucial to the
definition, and the definition should be as concise as possible.
"octet streams" is an overspecification.
No, because the stuff that is in a particular charset is passed to a
CTE encoder (if any), i.e. quoted-printable or base64, and these take
octet streams as input *by definition*.
"conventionalized" was intended to refer to the fact that conventional, not
specific glyphs are the focus (ie, "4" in the abstract, not any particular
calligraphic rendering of it).
If you need that many words to describe your intended meaning of the
word "conventionalized", then it is probably wrong to choose to use
that word.
I framed this definition from the viewpoint of what exists in the
world *now*, on the various platforms I deal with habitually
(Postscript & Macintosh) not what I *wish* would exist.
Yup, and I showed how your definition didn't mesh well with the
consensus of this working group that iso-2022-jp is a "charset".
Erik