Subject: Re: periodic hexadecimal reminder

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2001 13:10:31 -0000

--- In lojban@y..., thinkit8@l... wrote:
> anyway, what's wrong 
> with A-F? caps are only used in cmene, and can't be used for an 
> entire word--so their use in lojban should be unambiguous.

Not so fast. There's already a proposal that's seen some use to 
permit the convention of using all-caps to represent lerfu (so 
instead of typing {.abuby.} you type {AB}). THAT can be permitted 
for the reason you state: that all-caps are not used elsewhere in 
the language (with the possible exception of poetry where stressed 
cmavo may have to be specified). If we allow A-F as digits, that 
would yield ambiguity caused by these two proposals. We might 
grouse that no such silliness should be permitted, but I think that 
*one* of the two proposals (not both) is fairly harmless... and it's 
the lerfu one.

BTW, tinkit, don't keep saying "hex is the default" when it isn't, 
OK? It's reasonable "I want hex to be the default," but shouting 
untruths makes them no more true.

~mark