Grapheme clusters and backspace (was Re: Coding for Emoji: how to modify programs to work with emoji)

[Richard Wordingham via Unicode]

On Tue, 22 Oct 2019 23:27:27 +0200
Daniel Bünzli via Unicode <unicode at unicode.org> wrote:

> Thanks for you answer.
> 
> > The compromise that has generally been reached is that 'delete'
> > deletes a grapheme cluster and 'backspace' deletes a scalar value.
> > (There are good editors like Emacs that delete only a single
> > character.)  
> 
> Just to make things clear. When you say character in your message,
> you consistently mean scalar value right ?

Yes.

I find it hard to imagine that having to type them doesn't endow then
with some sort of reality in the users' minds, though some, such as
invisible stackers, are probably envisaged as control characters.

One does come across some odd entry methods, such as typing an Indic
akshara using the Latin script and then entering it as a whole.  That
is no more conducive to seeing the constituents as characters than is
typing wab- to get the hieroglyph ��.

Richard.