> > this does not mean that the source input can't be in a more suitable encoding
 > > and my suggestion is to use the LaTeX internal character representation here
 > > (and not UTF8) but in some sense either is similarily useful since both
 > > describe in a unique way the set of characters and both can be converted from
 > > one into the other.
 >
 > I would like to suggest UTF8. First of all, they would also be usable with
 > Omega, and second, parsing UTF8 is easier than parsing LaTeX internal
 > character representation (LICR?).

wrong answer :-)

a) UTF8 isn't seasier to parse for LaTeX than LICR if the LICR is not UTF8
that is :-) since LaTeX has the parser for LICR built in and for UTF8 you have
to add it

b) LaTeX is independent of Omega  and so you should be able to parse LICR as
well in Omega if Omega is running with LaTeX on top.

now of course both are lies to some extend, so try again:

 - point a) above is not true if you plug something on top of LaTeX to bypass
   its internal handling and replace it with something else, like part of the
   language support for omega that is currently being worked on by Javier.
   question however is whether this will lead in the long term to anything
   useful for both sides --- i doubt it.

 - point b) depends on how Omega wants to make use of those patterns. does it
   really use them at all? if so on what level do they act? i'm pleading
   ignorance here, so please tell me. I would have thought that the pattern
   idea closely tied to font encodings as it is with TeX doesn't make much
   sense for Omega. Or are they operate with the pattern on the unicode level?
   if so nearly none of the patterns right now should be usable for Omega.

frank

ps is there anybody at the other end of omega-developers-list being interested
on a unified version of LaTeX supporting omega and tex? as you may have seen
(since i know you are on it) i've written up a couple of comments and ideas
regarding Javiers drafts but was even more stonewalled than it sometimes
happens on this list.