During my journey to the leadingChar realm I took notes and I share them with you. leadingChar: leadChar code: code code >= 16r400000 ifTrue: [ self error: 'code is out of range'. ]. leadChar >= 256 ifTrue: [ self error: 'lead is out of range'. ]. code < 256 ifTrue: [ ^self value: code ]. ^self value: (leadChar bitShift: 22) + code. charCode ^ (value bitAnd: 16r3FFFFF). leadingChar ^ (value bitAnd: (16r3FC00000)) bitShift: -22. characterSet ^ EncodedCharSet charsetAt: self leadingChar => a character encodes the characterSet. ============================ Why are we using Latin1>>leadingChar ^ 0. Unicode>>leadingChar ^ 0 and I do not get why GreekEnvironment>>leadingChar ^0 Latin2Environment>>leadingChar ^0 Latin1Environment>>leadingChar ^0 Latin9Environment>>leadingChar ^0 RussianEnvironment>>leadingChar ^0 SimplifiedChineseEnvironment>>leadingChar ^0 ====================== I do not understand why Unicode is declared as 1 and not 0. Unicode class>>initialize EncodedCharSet declareEncodedCharSet: self atIndex: 0+1. EncodedCharSet declareEncodedCharSet: self atIndex: 256. ================================ I do not understand why Latin1 does not use declareEncodedCharSet Latin1 class>>initialize " self initialize " compoundTextSequence := String streamContents: [ :s | s nextPut: (Character value: 27). s nextPut: $(. s nextPut: $B ]. rightHalfSequence := String streamContents: [ :s | s nextPut: (Character value: 27). s nextPut: $-. s nextPut: $A ] I started to distribute the initialization into subclasses starting from this method: declareEncodedCharSet: anEncodedCharSetOrLanguageEnvironmentClass atIndex: aNumber "this method is used to modularize the old initialize method: EncodedCharSets at: 0+1 put: Unicode. EncodedCharSets at: 1+1 put: JISX0208. EncodedCharSets at: 2+1 put: GB2312. EncodedCharSets at: 3+1 put: KSX1001. EncodedCharSets at: 4+1 put: JISX0208. EncodedCharSets at: 5+1 put: JapaneseEnvironment. EncodedCharSets at: 6+1 put: SimplifiedChineseEnvironment. EncodedCharSets at: 7+1 put: KoreanEnvironment. EncodedCharSets at: 8+1 put: GB2312. EncodedCharSets at: 12+1 put: KSX1001. EncodedCharSets at: 13+1 put: GreekEnvironment. EncodedCharSets at: 14+1 put: Latin2Environment. EncodedCharSets at: 15+1 put: RussianEnvironment. EncodedCharSets at: 17+1 put: Latin9Environment. EncodedCharSets at: 256 put: Unicode. and indeed Latin1Environment was not part of the list. Now apparently we can remove Latin1 because EncodedCharSets of EncodedCharSet do not contain Latin1 ================================== No senders emitSequenceToResetStateIfNeededOn: aStream forState: state rightDirection Funny nextPutRightHalfValue: ascii toStream: aStream withShiftSequenceIfNeededForTextConverterState: state nextPutValue: ascii toStream: aStream withShiftSequenceIfNeededForTextConverterState: state ========================== Ideas of cleaning steps step one: what if Character>>leadingChar ^ 0 We can probably kill the encodedSet. It looks like Latin1Environment and Latin1 are not used. Stef