Re: LOGO-L> Language vs Visual

[mikedoyle@cix.compulink.co.uk (Mike Doyle)]

In-Reply-To: <199707161517.LAA04857@haiku.cb.lucent.com>
James Writes:

Jeff writes:

> > Except that ASCII and Morse are not languages. They are synthetic 
codes 
> > for abstracting existing character sets, which in turn represent 
language...

>  Nor is the Roman alphabet a language, although (more or less) it is 
widely
> used in the visual representation of Western European languages.  

The notion that language symbol systems are a representation (rather than 
recording of language) is important. The importance of Morse code is not 
in its ease of learning but because it was the first practical application 
of our understanding that a minimum of two characters are required to 
communicate meaning. If we decentre from computers, characters and codes 
we will perceive that such binary distinctions apply to all visual 
representation: all written characters are defined by mark/space contrasts 
be they Oriental pictograms, Arabic script or Roman characters.

ASCII is but one of the many binary representation conventions used with 
computers. 


Micheal O Duill

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