Editing 1953: The History of Unicode
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
| + | {{incomplete|I removed some unnecessary lines of text and added a real explanation about the comic, but I feel more can be added to it / changed. Please add onto it if you see something that needs to be changed.}} | ||
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An {{w|character encoding|encoding of a character set}} is a mapping from characters to numbers. For example, the letter "A" might be represented by the value 65. A problem was that each script had its own character set. Different characters could be represented by the same value. Some languages, such as Japanese, had several inconsistent character encodings, so before people could send text, they would have to have agreed which character set to use. {{w|Unicode}} was planned as a way of solving this by providing for a single character encoding for all the various characters used in the world's languages. | An {{w|character encoding|encoding of a character set}} is a mapping from characters to numbers. For example, the letter "A" might be represented by the value 65. A problem was that each script had its own character set. Different characters could be represented by the same value. Some languages, such as Japanese, had several inconsistent character encodings, so before people could send text, they would have to have agreed which character set to use. {{w|Unicode}} was planned as a way of solving this by providing for a single character encoding for all the various characters used in the world's languages. | ||
| โ | Unicode is run by {{w|Unicode Consortium|a consortium}} of major technology companies and stakeholders. The founders of Unicode include {{w|Joe Becker (Unicode)|Joe Becker}}, who worked for Xerox in the 1980s. He has a beard and may be the character featured in the first and third panels. | + | Prior to Unicode, Unicode attempts to Unicode is run by {{w|Unicode Consortium|a consortium}} of major technology companies and stakeholders. The founders of Unicode include {{w|Joe Becker (Unicode)|Joe Becker}}, who worked for Xerox in the 1980s. He has a beard and may be the character featured in the first and third panels. |
New characters have continued to be added to Unicode, and recently many "{{w|emoji}}" (picture characters) have been added. Emoji were originally added to be compatible with text message encodings in Japan, but after devices in other countries started supporting them as part of Unicode, they caught on worldwide. Now emoji characters are added for their own sake, not just for compatibility. | New characters have continued to be added to Unicode, and recently many "{{w|emoji}}" (picture characters) have been added. Emoji were originally added to be compatible with text message encodings in Japan, but after devices in other countries started supporting them as part of Unicode, they caught on worldwide. Now emoji characters are added for their own sake, not just for compatibility. | ||
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The [https://emojipedia.org/lobster/ lobster emoji], ๐ฆ, was approved as part of Unicode 11, for release in 2018. This comic was published on February 10, 2018โ. | The [https://emojipedia.org/lobster/ lobster emoji], ๐ฆ, was approved as part of Unicode 11, for release in 2018. This comic was published on February 10, 2018โ. | ||
| โ | + | The webcomic shows the creator of Unicode talking about how it would change the way we thought about managing text, which could help with incompatible binary text encoding. This seems to have derailed over the next 30 years, as shown in [https://twitter.com/SenAngusKing/status/961331752718557184 a real tweet] from the junior Senator from {{w|Maine}}, {{w|Angus King}}. In the {{w|Twitter|tweet}}, Sen. King writes that he is excited that the system is getting a new lobster emoji, showing that now the Unicode system is used for more frivolous reasons. He even signs using two emojis to form his name. There is a cattle breed called {{w|Angus cattle}}, so the cow emoji, ๐ฎ, stands for "Angus", and the crown emoji, ๐, of course represents "King". Thus Angus King becomes ๐ฎ๐. This is thus not part of the xkcd joke, it just uses the real tweet for comic relief. The tweet was released February 7th only two days before this comic, so [[Randall]] must have been busy finding a way to use it. Also the second comment on the tweet, posted this comic and asked which came first, but of course the tweet did. A user comments that Senator King should see this as a badge of honor (๐) to have his tweet included in an xkcd strip... | |
| โ | The title text imagines that Unicode will gain other unexpected roles in the next 30 years. In particular it acts as an armed force, capable of intervening in military disputes, such as an annexation of Maine by its neighbor, New Hampshire. The title text ends with three Unicode emoji: "๐" code point 1F64F "PERSON WITH FOLDED HANDS", "๐" code point 1F681 "HELICOPTER", and "๐" code point 1F396 "MILITARY MEDAL", suggesting that they are thanking them for their effort in the war, sending helicopters and soldiers to aid them against New Hampshire | + | The title text imagines that Unicode will gain other unexpected roles in the next 30 years. In particular it acts as an armed force, capable of intervening in military disputes, such as an annexation of Maine by its neighbor, New Hampshire. The title text ends with three Unicode emoji: "๐" code point 1F64F "PERSON WITH FOLDED HANDS", "๐" code point 1F681 "HELICOPTER", and "๐" code point 1F396 "MILITARY MEDAL", suggesting that they are thanking them for their effort in the war, sending helicopters and soldiers to aid them against New Hampshire. |
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
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:<span style="color:gray">2/7/18 3:12 PM</span> | :<span style="color:gray">2/7/18 3:12 PM</span> | ||
| โ | :[Cueball and the bearded man (the latter | + | :[Cueball and the bearded man (the latter grey-haired) are looking at a wall with the Unicode standard, labeled "1988", and Senator King's tweet, labeled "2018", posted on it.] |
:Cueball: What... what happened in those thirty years? | :Cueball: What... what happened in those thirty years? | ||
:Bearded man: ''Things got a little weird, okay?'' | :Bearded man: ''Things got a little weird, okay?'' | ||
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*Ironically, [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1953:_The_History_of_Unicode&oldid=152168 the first version of this article] (automatically generated by a bot) had problems with emoji encoding. | *Ironically, [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1953:_The_History_of_Unicode&oldid=152168 the first version of this article] (automatically generated by a bot) had problems with emoji encoding. | ||
| โ | *At one time the scenario in the title text wouldn't have been ''quite'' as far-fetched as it sounds. Maine and New Hampshire were for many years involved in border disputes, primarily over | + | *At one time the scenario in the title text wouldn't have been ''quite'' as far-fetched as it sounds. Maine and New Hampshire were for many years involved in border disputes, primarily over [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire_v._Maine fishing rights] and whether [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seavey%27s_Island Seavey Island,] located in the middle of the river that forms the border of the two states, was part of Maine or New Hampshire. The latter issue [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piscataqua_River_border_dispute was not settled until 2002]. Neither dispute ever quite rose to the level of a full-on shooting war but [http://nhpr.org/post/legacy-nh-maine-lobster-war-and-why-it-may-wage#stream/0 they got surprisingly close]. |
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
