Use typographic apostrophe instead of acute accent

[lucaswerkmeister]

(Note: I haven’t tested this, so I’m not quite sure if it works. However, the acute accent is already outside 7-bit ASCII, and it worked, so I think it’s unlikely that the typographic apostrophe will break anything.)

[lucaswerkmeister]

@FroMage comments?

[jvasileff]

Which is better: let's or let’s? They are both present after the patch, and I'd lean towards the first, since it's easier to type and keep consistent in a text editor, at least on my keyboard.

[lucaswerkmeister]

I’d say let’s, because it’s prettier, recommended by Unicode for this use, and it’s not the 70s anymore ;) but I’m biased since I use a keyboard layout that can type these characters, so they’re not as inconvenient for me as they are for others.

[lucaswerkmeister]

Note: some argue that the English apostrophe should be represented by a different character altogether.

[jvasileff]

The 70s had it right. Like being able to simply type l instead of having to deal with the invention of the completely frivolous 1 key.

[gavinking]

Frankly I find ' less jarring than most of the other options :-)

[lukedegruchy]

'

[FroMage]

The article about the two apostrophes does have a good point, but I wonder how both options are affected by word breaking? It wouldn’t do do have breaks in the middle of words.

[lucaswerkmeister]

Let’s try it out:

• U+0027 APOSTROPHE

  aaaaa'aaaaa'aaaaa'aaaaa'aaaaa'aaaaa'aaaaa'aaaaa'aaaaa'aaaaa'aaaaa'aaaaa'aaaaa'aaaaa'aaaaa'aaaaa'aaaaa'aaaaa'aaaaa'aaaaa'

• U+2019 RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK

  aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’aaaa’

• U+02BC MODIFIER LETTER APOSTROPHE

  aaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼaaaaʼ

Looks like none of them allow a word break.

[zamfofex]

@lucaswerkmeister

If I remember from when I read the article (it’s been a while), it talks about how it affects the word break when the apostrophe is at the end or at the beginning of a word (for when double‐clicking, for example). Consider:

There were multiple cars.

U+0027 APOSTROPHE The cars' windows were broken.

U+2019 RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK The cars’ windows were broken.

U+02BC MODIFIER LETTER APOSTROPHE The carsʼ windows were broken.

Honestly, I think using U+2019 is a little bit puristic, the U+0027 conveys the same meaning. I do use U+2019 because the Unicode Consortium says so, but I’ll admit I’m a bit puristic myself (I’d get bothered if someone said “There was multiple cars.”); I’m the only person I know that goes to the trouble of hitting ctrl+shit+u and then typing “2010” to write a hyphen or “2212” to write a minus sign.

[FroMage]

This PR has been closed as a result of moving Ceylon to the Eclipse Foundation, not as a judgement of its value. We are unfortunately unable to restore it ourselves, but if you feel this PR should be reopened, please rebase your work on the current master and create a new PR. Thanks, and sorry for the inconvenience.

[lucaswerkmeister]

So the result of some arguing about which proposed solution is better is that we haven’t merged any solution and still use backticks, which I don’t think anyone has argued for :/

Does anyone care about this enough to pick it up again?