Qâ Simbēân Skript - The Symbian Script

SymCode - Symbian Textual Coding

When the Symbian Script was finalised, perellas, computers and the like were not to be found. Upon the invention of these systems, it was soon found that a standard of coding was needed, to make sure that the code for a sym for one system was the same for another. Sapiens ran into a similar problem, with many computer systems, namely Unix, Windows and Macintosh, coding each letter and character differently, so that when a flie was moved from one system to another, its contents became garbage.

The sapiens fixed this by divising Unicode, a standard used across the Internet and on most systems. The Symbians fixed it similarly with SymCode. SymCode works on a particularly simple basis, devised to ensure that one code means one thing, and that future symbols, characters and syms can easily be added.

How SymCode Works

Before SymCode came along, a simple standard was already in place governing Symbian Script characters. Syms were to be immediately recognised, and reducable to a five by five pixel grid. Extending on this, Symcode simply lists each sym as its binary string for that five by five grid. For example, a space, or completely blank character, would have no pixels, and would have a string of "0000000000000000000000000". The sym would have the string "0000011111000001111100000". The sym for one, or , would have the string "1000101010001000101010001".
Of course, the binary can be converted to base five for ease of use, making a space "0", a becomes "230014200" and becomes "14122023110". This can be cumbersome, so a SymCode is most often written in base 32, or bitricenary. In much the same way that sapiens extend the decimal system to the hexadecimal with letters A through F, Symbians extend their base 5 [or quinary] to base 32 [bitricenary] using twenty seven [sym: 102] text characters. This system is spelled out below.
Using base 32, a blank character is #00000 [sym: ], becomes #08080 [sym: ], and becomes #MF4FM [sym: ]. Although the SymCode base binary string for a sym is quite long, this system has been decided on and adheared to for many many years for a number of reasons.

If a new character is required, its SymCode is worked out and added to the standard. Rarely will this conflict with another character, and when it does it is a simple matter to settle.
Using the binary string as a base makes computation and transmission more efficent.
A string like "1111110000101111010011101" just for one character can seem exhastive. Due to the way that a perella works at it's most basic mechanics, such strings are actually the easiest to compute. Because a SymCode is the same length no matter what the character, as well as many shortcuts taken in perella logic, computations on SymCodes are almost instantaneous.
One sym may be described in slightly different binary strings. There is one standard string for each sym, but the others can still be used within SymCode, allowing expansion and individual preference. For example, can have string "1000101000001000001000001" or "1000111000011000011000011" depending on preference, but the standard is "1000101000001000001000001" or MD421.

SymCode

How It Works

1. The large white box contains pixels that can be clicked on and off. 2. The first input box contains the binary string, one digit of 0 or 1 [or bit] for every pixel. Change this by entering a line of twenty-five '1's and '0's. Be sure to fill the box. 3. The second input box is the sapien number equivalent of the binary string. To change this, enter any base 10 integer from 0 to 33554431. 4. The third input box is the symbian number equivalent of the binary string. To change this, enter any base 5 integer from 0 to 32042220211. 10. The last input box is the SymCode. This is a base 32 number and is used widely to denote a character. To change this, enter any base 32 number between 0 and 88888 using the guide below. Be sure to fill the box.

Base 32	, 0	, 1	, 2	, 3	, 4	, A	, B	, X	, D	, E	, F	, G	, H	, I	, J	, K
Base 10	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Base 5	0	1	2	3	4	10	11	12	13	14	20	21	22	23	24	30
Base 2	00000	00001	00010	00011	00100	00101	00110	00111	01000	01001	01010	01011	01100	01101	01110	01111
Base 32	, L	, M	, N	, O	, P	, R	, S	, C	, T	, Q	, U	, V	, W	, Y	, Z	, 8*
Base 10	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Base 5	31	32	33	34	40	41	42	43	44	100	101	102	103	104	110	111
Base 2	10000	10001	10010	10011	10100	10101	10110	10111	11000	11001	11010	11011	11100	11101	11110	11111

* It must be noted that "8" is a character stated in the table above. This is for sapien uses only. The character "8" has no meaning in Symbian culture. It was chosen in the standard for sapien use by the Symbian Script Consortium to make sure that SymCode stayed a "one for one" character system. All the Symbian Script characters have single character equivalents in sapien script, excepting or "sz". Since the number 8 has no other use in Symbian/Sapien textual matters, and because it looks remarkably similar to a , it was chosen as a eqivalent in this and only this case. In all other matters, an "8" equates to the sapien count of eight, Symbian count of 13, and nothing else.