Editing 1209: Encoding

{{comic
| number    = 1209
| date      = May 8, 2013
| title     = Encoding
| image     = encoding.png
| titletext = I don't see how; the C0 block is right there at the beginning.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Skywriting}} is using an airplane to write words in the sky with controlled releases of smoke. {{w|Unicode}} is a standard for digitally encoding text which supports a huge variety of characters and modifiers. 

[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] hired a skywriter to write some text which they provided in Unicode, but now they are dissatisfied with the result and Cueball is using one of their {{w|walkie-talkies}} to tell the pilot about his mistake—with the result that the pilot seems to lose control (presumably control of the plane, not the text).

An {{w|interrobang}} (‽) is a combination question mark and exclamation mark. A {{w|diacritic}} is any symbol added to a character (for instance ´, ˘, ˇ, ¨), usually an accent mark added to a letter. In Unicode, {{w|Combining character|combining diacritics}} are represented as separate characters, but computer programs that render text graphically treat them as modifications to the previous character. The request to modify the interrobang is strange, given that diacritics are supposed to modify ''letters'', not punctuation marks, and given that an interrobang is already conceptually a character combination. On the other hand, combining diacritics can technically be used on any character, so the intended result will be something like:




‽̃ͦ̀̏͆̐̋̿ͣͭ́ͯ͒

The skywriter's errors and the phrase "Unicode support" play off the common issue of {{w|Mojibake|software rendering Unicode symbols incorrectly}}. But here the error does not seem to make the text unintelligible: all the skywriter has apparently done is put a diacritic ''underneath'' (or perhaps next to) the interrobang instead of above it. If this is the only problem with the text (which is likely, given that an interrobang would probably be at the end), then the comment that the skywriter has "terrible Unicode support" makes Cueball and Megan seem fastidious and unforgiving. The comic points up computer users' tendency to use hyperbole when describing minor problems, exaggerating their relative seriousness. Here Cueball and Megan seem concerned more about their incorrectly rendered text than about the skywriter's safety.

The title text refers to the {{w|C0 and C1 control codes|C0 Block}}, the name for the first 32 character codes in Unicode (and {{w|ASCII}}), traditionally called control characters. Cueball wonders how the plane could possibly have lost "control", when the "control characters" are so clearly in the conventional location.

[[1647: Diacritics]] also references an absurd use of diacritics.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are both holding walkie-talkies. Cueball is talking into his, Megan is holding hers down. Both are looking up in the sky.]
:Cueball: No, the combining diacritics go '''''over''''' the interrobang!
:Megan: Oh jeez, I think he's lost control.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The skywriter we hired has terrible Unicode support.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Unicode]]
[[Category:Aviation]]