A proposal for a generalized card code for 256 characters
Robert W. Bemer · Communications of the ACM · 1959
While the views expressed in the paper below conflict violently with my own ~, they represent a substantial amount of constructive thinking and planning based upon solid experience in development of techniques for use in an IAL/ALGOL language compiler.I feel, therefore, that they should be published for your scrutiny and that Mr. Bemer's work deserves your careful consideration.This essay deals with single characters rather than with their first-order groupings into words, which had been intended as the primary business of this department for this year.Further, the driving force behind the Bemer alphabet has been the expressing of a particular algorithmic language, that of the Reference level of ALGOL.~ It is intended to have quite general value, however, and has purposely included a substantial number of unassigned characters in order to permit expansion.Succeeding issues of this Section now under preparation will include contributions to (word) glossary irfformation by C. C. Gotlieb (University of Toronto), A. S. Householder (ORNL), W. M. Carlson (AIChE), R. P. Sell (DATAmatic), and F. J. Gruenberger (RAND), and to flowchart symbol terminology by W. B.