Re: Why aren't char bits portable?

[Masinter.pa@Xerox.COM]

Char-bits aren't portable because they are a property of the physical
keyboard of the machine, and, most keyboards don't have bits that
correspond to them. ("Most" when enumerating all keyboards, computer
keyboards, keyboards on machines that run lisp, or even accepted
standards (DIN, ANSI) for keyboards.)

The best thing that a "portable" program can do to cope with the variety
of keyboards is twofold:

a) stick as much as possible within the set of standard characters

b) mark the mapping of keys to characters as a clear
implementation-dependent part of programs that have to go beyond the
standard characters.

Char-bits have no more place in the "standard" than does
double-bucky-coke-bottle.

Larry