On Jul 26, 2011 12:51 AM, "Bob Proulx" <b...@proulx.com> wrote: > > Paul E Condon wrote: > > but 2 are non printing: 0x20 and 0x7F > > I leave the last step as an exercise for the reader. ;-) > > I hate to make this thread longer... Sigh. > > Whether something is printable or not was easier to see in the old > days when printers had dot matrix or daisy wheels or selectric balls > or other such loud and visible print heads. If you emitted a > printable character the head moved forward. If you emited a > non-printable character the head did not move forward. > > Using that definition space is definitely a printable character since > it moves the print head forward. We are all agreed that it is > invisible. But being invisible is not part of the definition of > whether it is printable or not. >
Ummm, earlier printers than that didn't have moveable heads like that. There was this printer that used a chain with a few sets of letters and 80 hammers. When the right letter moved under the proper hammer, it fired (and if you asked it to print a row with letters in the 'right' order, the chain would snap). Point being, a 'head' didn't move to create a space, so that logic is flawed. I also don't think space is printable but whatever.
