Notes

Symbol encoding (Unicode and family)

In the world of text and symbols, many encoding systems allow for displaying characters, symbols, and icons in different contexts. Unicode is the primary standard, but there are several other encoding systems and symbol categories, each serving specialized purposes. Here’s a breakdown:

Key Symbol Encoding Systems and Categories

  1. Unicode

    • Usage: The universal encoding standard supporting characters from virtually all languages, as well as emoji, symbols, and icons.
    • Categories: Includes letters, numbers, emoji, mathematical symbols, box-drawing characters, and more.
    • Examples: Alphabet (A, B), numbers (1, 2), emoji (😊), math symbols (√, ∑), and other unique characters like ↵.
    • Resources:

  2. ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)

    • Usage: Basic Latin letters, numbers, punctuation, and control characters for simple text encoding.
    • Limitations: Limited to 128 characters, excluding many languages and special symbols.
    • Examples: Basic Latin alphabet (A-Z), numbers (0-9), punctuation marks like . and ,.

  3. ISO/IEC 8859 (ISO Latin)

    • Usage: Supports European languages with additional Latin characters, like accented letters.
    • Categories: Variants (ISO 8859-1, ISO 8859-5) cover Western European, Eastern European, and Cyrillic scripts.
    • Limitations: Restricted to 256 characters per set.

  4. ANSI (Windows-1252)

    • Usage: Commonly used on Windows; extends ASCII with additional characters for Western European languages.
    • Limitations: Non-standard on non-Windows systems.
    • Examples: Includes symbols like €, accented letters, and punctuation.

  5. Emoji (Unicode Extended Pictographic Symbols)

    • Usage: Unicode provides a broad range of emoji for digital communication, sorted into categories.
    • Categories: Smileys, People, Animals, Food, Travel, and more.
    • Notes: Rendered differently across platforms (Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc.).

  6. HTML Entities

    • Usage: Encodes special symbols in HTML with named (&) or numeric (©) entities.
    • Notes: Often Unicode-based, written as character references in HTML documents for web use.

  7. LaTeX Symbols

    • Usage: Essential in academic and scientific fields, especially for mathematical notation.
    • Categories: Greek letters, math operators, functions (\alpha, \sum, \infty).
    • Notes: Not an encoding system but a method to render symbols in scientific documents.

  8. Dingbats

    • Usage: Decorative symbols, often used for visual enhancement.

    • Examples: Check marks, arrows, stars.

    • Notes: Originated in typefaces like Zapf Dingbats; Unicode includes a Dingbats block.

  9. Box Drawing Characters

    • Usage: Used for simple graphics and box drawing in text files or terminal interfaces.
    • Examples: ┌, ─, ┐, │, ┘.
    • Notes: Useful for ASCII art and table layouts.

  10. Control Characters

    • Usage: Non-printing characters to control text display, such as line breaks and tabs.
    • Categories: Includes Line Feed (LF), Carriage Return (CR), and others.

  11. Private Use Area (PUA)

    • Usage: Allows companies or individuals to define custom symbols not in Unicode.

    • Examples: Proprietary symbols, company logos.

    • Notes: Non-standard and specific to certain systems or applications.

      Each of these systems provides unique ways to display and interact with symbols. While Unicode has largely unified global encoding, non-Unicode systems still fulfill niche needs, especially in older systems or specialized fields.

Here are a few sources for locating and copying symbols:

  1. Unicode Tables

    home.unicode.org provides official charts for different Unicode blocks. Each chart lists symbols for a specific category, like arrows, geometric shapes, mathematical symbols, etc.
    You can search by character name or code point to find the exact symbol you need.

    • Example: Unicde = &U+1F47D = hexadecimal format = 👽 result = 👽

  2. Character Map Utility (Windows)

    Windows includes a built-in tool called “Character Map” (charmap.exe) where you can browse and copy symbols from various fonts that support Unicode.
    Open it by typing “Character Map” in the Start menu search bar, then find and copy symbols to paste them into your project.

  3. Emoji and Symbol Libraries

    Online Websites like Unicode Table and Coolsymbol provide searchable libraries of Unicode symbols, emojis, and text decorations.
    You can copy the symbol you want directly from these sites.

  4. HTML Entity Reference

    Some symbols have HTML entity codes (e.g., ← for ←). Sites like DevDocs or W3Schools list HTML entities if you want to embed symbols in web pages.