| Q |
How do personal computers
output Kanji? |
| A |
The key words are character
codes and fonts. |
When handling characters
on PCs, the principle roles are played by
character codes and fonts.
Normally, computers do not understand characters
as characters per se. They assign a number to
each character and recognize different characters
by the different numbers.
These numbers are called character codes.
However, character codes are no more than
numbers. Because of that, we PC users cannot tell
what characters are contained in the computer
only by looking at the character codes. Thus, the
computer must be taught about the shape of the
character that matches a particular character
code.
Fonts are used for this purpose.
Fonts can easily be changed by users. This allows
the same character to be changed to a different
design. For example, it is possible to change
from a Mincho font to a Gothic font.
Character codes and fonts are not usable
separately; they are both required to make the
use of characters possible.
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