The Xerox Character Code Standard (XCCS) is a historical 16-bit character encoding that was created by Xerox[1] in 1980 for the exchange of information between elements of the Xerox Network Systems Architecture.[2] It encodes the characters required for languages using the Latin, Arabic, Hebrew, Greek and Cyrillic scripts, the Chinese, Japanese and Korean writing systems, and technical symbols.[3]

It can be viewed as an early precursor of, and inspiration for, Unicode.[4][1]

Code charts


See also

References

  1. ^ a b Haralambous, Yannis (September 2007). Fonts & Encodings. Translated by Horne, P. Scott (1st ed.). Sebastopol, California, USA: O'Reilly Media, Inc. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-596-10242-5. ISBN 0-596-10242-9. 
  2. ^ "Xerox System Network Architecture General Information Manual". Xerox Corporation. April 1985. pp. 57–63. Retrieved 2016-10-25. 
  3. ^ Centerlind, Tomas (1987-06-18). "International Character Code Standard for the BE2" (PDF). Information Technology Center (ITC), Carnegie Mellon University. CMU-ITC-87-091. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-11-25. Retrieved 2016-10-25. 
  4. ^ Becker, Joseph D. (1998-09-10) [1988-08-29]. "Unicode 88" (PDF). unicode.org (10th anniversary reprint ed.). Unicode Consortium. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-11-25. Retrieved 2016-10-25. In 1978, the initial proposal for a set of "Universal Signs" was made by Bob Belleville at Xerox PARC. Many persons contributed ideas to the development of a new encoding design. Beginning in 1980, these efforts evolved into the Xerox Character Code Standard (XCCS) by the present author, a multilingual encoding which has been maintained by Xerox as an internal corporate standard since 1982, through the efforts of Ed Smura, Ron Pellar, and others.
    Unicode arose as the result of eight years of working experience with XCCS. Its fundamental differences from XCCS were proposed by Peter Fenwick and Dave Opstad (pure 16-bit codes), and by Lee Collins (ideographic character unification). Unicode retains the many features of XCCS whose utility have been proved over the years in an international line of communication multilingual system products.     

Further reading

  • Character Code Standard, coll. "Xerox System Integration Standard". May 1980. 
  • Character Standard Code XSIS 058,405, coll. "Xerox System Integration Standard". April 1984.  (100 pp.)
  • Character Standard Code XNSS 058,405, coll. "Xerox System Integration Standard". May 1986. 
  • Character Standard Code XNSS 059,003 Version 2.0, coll. "Xerox System Integration Standard". June 1990. 
  • "Literature Catalog" (PDF). Xerox Systems Institute. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-11-25. Retrieved 2016-11-25.