[e] (0) Try to tidy up some more of the Unicode/code unit mess with a…

… probably over-reaching definition (there's over 2000 uses of the word 'character' in the text, so I didn't check that all of them use this new definition... hopefully it works out; otherwise, we'll just have to try something else again). Fixing http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=13676 git-svn-id: http://svn.whatwg.org/webapps@6648 340c8d12-0b0e-0410-8428-c7bf67bfef74
whatwg · Oct 6, 2011 · ee9e809 · ee9e809
1 parent 9eeedee
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diff --git a/complete.html b/complete.html
@@ -3365,6 +3365,22 @@ <h4 id=character-encodings><span class=secno>2.1.6 </span>Character encodings</h
   <p>The term <dfn id=unicode-character>Unicode character</dfn> is used to mean a <i title="">Unicode scalar value</i> (i.e. any Unicode code point that
   is not a surrogate code point). <a href=#refsUNICODE>[UNICODE]</a></p>
 
+  <p>The term <dfn id=character>character</dfn>, when not qualified as
+  <em>Unicode</em> character, means a <a href=#unicode-character>Unicode character</a>
+  where possible, or a surrogate code point when not: when an
+  algorithm that processes strings is defined in terms of characters,
+  a pair of <span title="code unit">code units</span> consisting of a
+  high surrogate followed by a low surrogate must be treated as a
+  single character, but isolated surrogates must each be treated as a
+  single character also.</p>
+
+  <p>The <dfn id=code-point-length>code-point length</dfn> of a string is the number of
+  <span title="code unit">code units</span> in that string. <a href=#refsWEBIDL>[WEBIDL]</a></p>
+
+  <p class=note>This complexity results from the historical decision
+  to define the DOM API in terms of 16 bit (UTF-16) <span title="code
+  unit">code units</span>, rather than in terms of <a href=#unicode-character title="Unicode character">Unicode characters</a>.</p>
+
 
 
 
@@ -4457,9 +4473,6 @@ <h4 id=common-parser-idioms><span class=secno>2.5.1 </span>Common parser idioms<
   whitespace</dfn> from a string, the user agent must remove all <a href=#space-character title="space character">space characters</a> that are at the
   start or end of the string.</p>
 
-  <p>The <dfn id=code-point-length>code-point length</dfn> of a string is the number of
-  <span title="code unit">code units</span> in that string. <a href=#refsWEBIDL>[WEBIDL]</a></p>
-
   <p>When a user agent has to <dfn id=strictly-split-a-string>strictly split a string</dfn> on a
   particular delimiter character <var title="">delimiter</var>, it
   must use the following algorithm:</p>
@@ -33917,9 +33930,9 @@ <h6 id=parsing-0><span class=secno>4.8.10.13.3 </span>Parsing</h6>
 
   </ol><p>The <dfn id=webvtt-cue-text-tokenizer>WebVTT cue text tokenizer</dfn> is as follows. It emits
   a token, which is either a string (whose value is a sequence of
-  Unicode characters), a start tag (with a tag name, a list of
-  classes, and optionally an annotation), an end tag (with a tag
-  name), or a timestamp tag (with a tag value).</p>
+  characters), a start tag (with a tag name, a list of classes, and
+  optionally an annotation), an end tag (with a tag name), or a
+  timestamp tag (with a tag value).</p>
 
   <ol><li><p>Let <var title="">input</var> and <var title="">position</var> be the same variables as those of the same
    name in the algorithm that invoked these steps.</li>

diff --git a/index b/index
@@ -3365,6 +3365,22 @@ a.setAttribute('href', 'http://example.com/'); // change the content attribute d
   <p>The term <dfn id=unicode-character>Unicode character</dfn> is used to mean a <i title="">Unicode scalar value</i> (i.e. any Unicode code point that
   is not a surrogate code point). <a href=#refsUNICODE>[UNICODE]</a></p>
 
+  <p>The term <dfn id=character>character</dfn>, when not qualified as
+  <em>Unicode</em> character, means a <a href=#unicode-character>Unicode character</a>
+  where possible, or a surrogate code point when not: when an
+  algorithm that processes strings is defined in terms of characters,
+  a pair of <span title="code unit">code units</span> consisting of a
+  high surrogate followed by a low surrogate must be treated as a
+  single character, but isolated surrogates must each be treated as a
+  single character also.</p>
+
+  <p>The <dfn id=code-point-length>code-point length</dfn> of a string is the number of
+  <span title="code unit">code units</span> in that string. <a href=#refsWEBIDL>[WEBIDL]</a></p>
+
+  <p class=note>This complexity results from the historical decision
+  to define the DOM API in terms of 16 bit (UTF-16) <span title="code
+  unit">code units</span>, rather than in terms of <a href=#unicode-character title="Unicode character">Unicode characters</a>.</p>
+
 
 
 
@@ -4457,9 +4473,6 @@ a.setAttribute('href', 'http://example.com/'); // change the content attribute d
   whitespace</dfn> from a string, the user agent must remove all <a href=#space-character title="space character">space characters</a> that are at the
   start or end of the string.</p>
 
-  <p>The <dfn id=code-point-length>code-point length</dfn> of a string is the number of
-  <span title="code unit">code units</span> in that string. <a href=#refsWEBIDL>[WEBIDL]</a></p>
-
   <p>When a user agent has to <dfn id=strictly-split-a-string>strictly split a string</dfn> on a
   particular delimiter character <var title="">delimiter</var>, it
   must use the following algorithm:</p>
@@ -33917,9 +33930,9 @@ The General Relativistic Field Equations</pre>
 
   </ol><p>The <dfn id=webvtt-cue-text-tokenizer>WebVTT cue text tokenizer</dfn> is as follows. It emits
   a token, which is either a string (whose value is a sequence of
-  Unicode characters), a start tag (with a tag name, a list of
-  classes, and optionally an annotation), an end tag (with a tag
-  name), or a timestamp tag (with a tag value).</p>
+  characters), a start tag (with a tag name, a list of classes, and
+  optionally an annotation), an end tag (with a tag name), or a
+  timestamp tag (with a tag value).</p>
 
   <ol><li><p>Let <var title="">input</var> and <var title="">position</var> be the same variables as those of the same
    name in the algorithm that invoked these steps.</li>

diff --git a/source b/source
@@ -2242,6 +2242,24 @@ a.setAttribute('href', 'http://example.com/'); // change the content attribute d
   is not a surrogate code point). <a
   href="#refsUNICODE">[UNICODE]</a></p>
 
+  <p>The term <dfn>character</dfn>, when not qualified as
+  <em>Unicode</em> character, means a <span>Unicode character</span>
+  where possible, or a surrogate code point when not: when an
+  algorithm that processes strings is defined in terms of characters,
+  a pair of <span title="code unit">code units</span> consisting of a
+  high surrogate followed by a low surrogate must be treated as a
+  single character, but isolated surrogates must each be treated as a
+  single character also.</p>
+
+  <p>The <dfn>code-point length</dfn> of a string is the number of
+  <span title="code unit">code units</span> in that string. <a
+  href="#refsWEBIDL">[WEBIDL]</a></p>
+
+  <p class="note">This complexity results from the historical decision
+  to define the DOM API in terms of 16 bit (UTF-16) <span title="code
+  unit">code units</span>, rather than in terms of <span
+  title="Unicode character">Unicode characters</span>.</p>
+
 
 
 <!--END dev-html-->
@@ -3519,10 +3537,6 @@ is conforming depends on which specs apply, and leaves it at that. -->
   title="space character">space characters</span> that are at the
   start or end of the string.</p>
 
-  <p>The <dfn>code-point length</dfn> of a string is the number of
-  <span title="code unit">code units</span> in that string. <a
-  href="#refsWEBIDL">[WEBIDL]</a></p>
-
   <p>When a user agent has to <dfn>strictly split a string</dfn> on a
   particular delimiter character <var title="">delimiter</var>, it
   must use the following algorithm:</p>
@@ -37228,9 +37242,9 @@ The General Relativistic Field Equations</pre>
 
   <p>The <dfn>WebVTT cue text tokenizer</dfn> is as follows. It emits
   a token, which is either a string (whose value is a sequence of
-  Unicode characters), a start tag (with a tag name, a list of
-  classes, and optionally an annotation), an end tag (with a tag
-  name), or a timestamp tag (with a tag value).</p>
+  characters), a start tag (with a tag name, a list of classes, and
+  optionally an annotation), an end tag (with a tag name), or a
+  timestamp tag (with a tag value).</p>
 
   <ol>