Original Usenet thread from alt.ascii-art, started 27 Jan 1998.
character set study
alt.ascii-art
· 7 messages · 27 Jan 1998 - 29 Jan 1998
This a character count using 31721 characters-worth of
Joan Stark's ascii drawings. I was playing around trying
to write a BMP to "line" ascii program. To find the best
characters to use I wrote a quick program to count the
characters and their frequency.
Note: I did remove the "jgs" from the drawings.
Total characters counted = 31721
Character Occurances Percent of total
========= ========== ================
space 20055 63.223
_ 1662 5.239
| 1327 4.183
- 1237 3.899
. 1140 3.593
' 971 3.061
\ 835 2.632
/ 827 2.607
` 543 1.711
= 500 1.576
; 464 1.462
" 397 1.251
, 259 .816
( 249 .784
) 220 .693
: 203 .639
8 114 .359
{ 103 .324
~ 100 .315
} 83 .261
^ 71 .223
o 55 .173
* 50 .157
# 37 .116
< 34 .107
> 33 .104+ 23 .072
I 17 .053
@ 15 .047
& 10 .031
a 10 .031
O 8 .025
% 7 .022
0 7 .022
L 7 .022
C 6 .018
[ 6 .018
] 5 .015
6 4 .012
9 4 .012
e 4 .012
Y 3 .009
! 2 .006
V 2 .006
X 2 .006
c 2 .006
g 2 .006
j 2 .006
s 2 .006
D 1 .003
q 1 .003
$ 0 0
1 0 0
2 0 0
3 0 0
4 0 0
5 0 0
7 0 0
? 0 0
A 0 0
B 0 0
E 0 0
F 0 0
G 0 0
H 0 0
J 0 0
K 0 0
M 0 0
N 0 0
P 0 0
Q 0 0
R 0 0
S 0 0
T 0 0
U 0 0
W 0 0
Z 0 0
b 0 0
d 0 0
f 0 0
h 0 0
i 0 0
k 0 0
l 0 0
m 0 0
n 0 0
p 0 0
r 0 0
t 0 0
u 0 0
v 0 0
w 0 0
x 0 0
y 0 0
z 0 0
Andreas Freise (ad...@mpq.mpg.de) wrote: : gem wrote: : > This a character count using 31721 characters-worth of : > Joan Stark's ascii drawings. I was playing around trying : > to write a BMP to "line" ascii program. To find the best : > characters to use I wrote a quick program to count the : > characters and their frequency. : Funny idea. I wonder if that analysis could be : a 'fingerprint' of the artist. Maybe not to : distinguish between hjw and jgs, but you'd : surely notice an increase of the > and < while scanning : llizard's art. Not to talk about other styles : (like by Normand Veilleux etc). Actually, I've been thinking about that. I have this little program that tries to identify files using a neural network, and while it's far from optimal, it does work. In fact, I'm pretty positive I could get it to tell basic ascii art styles (linedraw, dotty, solid, etc.) apart if I didn't mess up the search space with unrelated input.. The biggest problem is that the code can't identify clusters independently. When training, one has to assign a type to each file beforehand, and if the categories don't work out, it'll never learn. Also, I remember getting it to tell the difference between ascii art from this NG and other text files. Later I realized it was recognizing the RFC882 headers in the posts. Still, if I just found a better statistical method (neural nets feel like turning screws with a knife - possible but not quite appropriate here) it might work out. There's no way I could catch all correlations, but if I picked the inputs right, finding clusters should be enough. By the way, the inputs shouldn't only include character counts, but also the proximity of different characters. For example, in line art the cluster _,-'" is rather common. Maybe, some day.. -- ii 3D .sigXIlmari KaronenAscii 3D .sigIlmari Karonen_Ascii 3D .sigIlmari Kar fi....@graphic.iltzu@sci.fi.stereo@gra...@sci.fin.stereo@graphicilt ltzu/ba/http://www.sci.fi/~iltzu/bahttp://www.sci.fi/~iltzu/1bahttp://www.sc is a stereogram!><This .sig is a stereogram!><This .sig is a stereogram!><T
Spunk1111 wrote: > > >Date: Tue, Jan 27, 1998 20:20 EST > >Message-id: <34C...@mpq.mpg.de> > this is a very clever study... I'm not sure what it > does tell you though about my ASCII art pictures... Not much. I knew it would show WHAT characters you use but not WHY. When looking at the pictures my bmp-to-ascii program drew, I found that I would have not chosen some of the characters it did. I decided to reduce the characters available to the program and see what happens. I spent hours studying bit patterns till I saw them in my sleep and I came up with a very reduced character set. O0X89P4Fdbo()*+-,'/=[\]_{|}~ The results were much better. I then got the idea to use your favorite characters and thats why I did this test study. Your characters work very well in my program too only you use many more characters so the program runs slower. :-) > >> Character Occurances Percent of total > >> ========= ========== ================ > >> space 20055 63.223 > definitely not a solid-style ASCII artist... Allen Mullen > or the DutchDude would have a much lower space > count... hmmmm, I also wonder if this takes into account > how far the pic is to the right of the left margin... it may > be misleading in terms of total utilization... You are correct. When I was nearly finished building the test document containiny many drawings I realized that I had fogotten to delete unneeded leading spaces. But the space character is a given anyway to line ascii. > Of the remaining characters, I can tell you that I > don't use the $ or ?-- to me it is too distracting.... also too > typical of GIFSCII pics... Yep. My program chose those and others (QQQQQQ yech!) too often thats why I had to limit its choses. > but there are some on the list > that I do use:1 bd p m n uUH l m vy 7 A P-- not all the time-- > you must've just missed them. I was suprised at how little you use b and d. > Again- neat study-- I found it very interesting.. thank you! > -joan your welcome. gem
gem wrote: > This a character count using 31721 characters-worth of > Joan Stark's ascii drawings. I was playing around trying > to write a BMP to "line" ascii program. To find the best > characters to use I wrote a quick program to count the > characters and their frequency. Funny idea. I wonder if that analysis could be a 'fingerprint' of the artist. Maybe not to distinguish between hjw and jgs, but you'd surely notice an increase of the > and < while scanning llizard's art. Not to talk about other styles (like by Normand Veilleux etc). 'The scientist looked up from his statistics and said : Well either this is a really good fake or it is a genuine jgs.' :)) > Note: I did remove the "jgs" from the drawings. Ts, ts, ts, and who is going to put them back now? > Total characters counted = 31721 > > Character Occurances Percent of total > ========= ========== ================ > space 20055 63.223 Hehe, just air. Not really what we'd call 'solid style'. > _ 1662 5.239 > | 1327 4.183 > - 1237 3.899 > . 1140 3.593 > ' 971 3.061 > \ 835 2.632 > / 827 2.607 > ` 543 1.711 Well, these are obvious. Seems like Joan doesn't like the comma that much. > = 500 1.576 > ; 464 1.462 > " 397 1.251 > , 259 .816 > ( 249 .784 > ) 220 .693 The slashes and paranthesis here show a significant symmetry of the pictures, or is that symmetry of reality? > : 203 .639 > 8 114 .359 > { 103 .324 > ~ 100 .315 > } 83 .261 > ^ 71 .223 > o 55 .173 > * 50 .157 > # 37 .116 > < 34 .107 > > 33 .104 Symmetry again! > + 23 .072 > I 17 .053 > @ 15 .047 > & 10 .031 > a 10 .031 > O 8 .025 > % 7 .022 > 0 7 .022 > L 7 .022 > C 6 .018 > [ 6 .018 > ] 5 .015 > 6 4 .012 > 9 4 .012 ... and again. Funny indeed! > e 4 .012 > Y 3 .009 > ! 2 .006 > V 2 .006 > X 2 .006 > c 2 .006 > g 2 .006 > j 2 .006 > s 2 .006 > D 1 .003 > q 1 .003 Hm, 51 (?) different characters. Only! > $ 0 0 > 1 0 0 > 2 0 0 > 3 0 0 > 4 0 0 > 5 0 0 > 7 0 0 > ? 0 0 > A 0 0 > B 0 0 > E 0 0 > F 0 0 > G 0 0 > H 0 0 > J 0 0 > K 0 0 > M 0 0 > N 0 0 > P 0 0 > Q 0 0 > R 0 0 > S 0 0 > T 0 0 > U 0 0 > W 0 0 > Z 0 0 > b 0 0 > d 0 0 > f 0 0 > h 0 0 > i 0 0 > k 0 0 > l 0 0 > m 0 0 > n 0 0 > p 0 0 > r 0 0 > t 0 0 > u 0 0 > v 0 0 > w 0 0 > x 0 0 > y 0 0 > z 0 0 And a lot of discriminated characters here. Hear them crying? :) Andreas abcdef... . -._ O / ` ' / \ ()) __ _..--.. .-'`-. .-d-b-. --' `_.-' ``.._. ` .' `. _a:f. .-' ' ,-' ASCII Art Dictionary : - http://www.stud.uni-hannover.de/~freise Alt.Ascii-Art FAQ : - http://www.stud.uni-hannover.de/~freise/ascii/faq.html
In article <34C...@mpq.mpg.de>, Andreas Freise <ad...@mpq.mpg.de> wrote: > > gem wrote: > > This a character count using 31721 characters-worth of > > Joan Stark's ascii drawings. I was playing around trying > > to write a BMP to "line" ascii program. To find the best > > characters to use I wrote a quick program to count the > > characters and their frequency. > > Funny idea. I wonder if that analysis could be > a 'fingerprint' of the artist. Maybe not to > distinguish between hjw and jgs, but you'd > surely notice an increase of the > and < while scanning > llizard's art. Not to talk about other styles > (like by Normand Veilleux etc). > > 'The scientist looked up from his statistics and > said : Well either this is a really good fake or > it is a genuine jgs.' :)) > [snip] > > Total characters counted = 31721 > > > > Character Occurances Percent of total > > ========= ========== ================ [snip] > > Hm, 51 (?) different characters. Only! > > > $ 0 0 > > 1 0 0 > > 2 0 0 > > 3 0 0 > > 4 0 0 > > 5 0 0 > > 7 0 0 > > ? 0 0 > > A 0 0 > > B 0 0 > > E 0 0 > > F 0 0 > > G 0 0 > > H 0 0 > > J 0 0 > > K 0 0 > > M 0 0 > > N 0 0 > > P 0 0 > > Q 0 0 > > R 0 0 > > S 0 0 > > T 0 0 > > U 0 0 > > W 0 0 > > Z 0 0 > > b 0 0 > > d 0 0 > > f 0 0 > > h 0 0 > > i 0 0 > > k 0 0 > > l 0 0 > > m 0 0 > > n 0 0 > > p 0 0 > > r 0 0 > > t 0 0 > > u 0 0 > > v 0 0 > > w 0 0 > > x 0 0 > > y 0 0 > > z 0 0 > > And a lot of discriminated characters here. Hear them crying? > > :) > Andreas > > abcdef... . > -._ O / > ` ' > / \ > ()) > __ _..--.. .-'`-. .-d-b-. > --' `_.-' ``.._. ` .' `. _a:f. > .-' ' ,-' > > ASCII Art Dictionary : > - http://www.stud.uni-hannover.de/~freise > Alt.Ascii-Art FAQ : > - http://www.stud.uni-hannover.de/~freise/ascii/faq.html . ______%^|> } JGS's {/ > } TRASH { >,^ } BIN { /| ejm98 }_______{ | \ $$ \_,^%--- _4v_?__ _/> \ You're right, Andreas; } JGS's { > there are tons of perfectly } TRASH { >,^ good characters just discarded! } BIN { /| (And how prodigal of Joan to ejm98 }_____p_{ | \ throw away so many $$$$$) Fl Qz y NOTE: If you hit the reply button, add an "e" to the "freent"; its absense is to stop the torment of automatic mailers. -- __|____ www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/9334/ | ~---, cq5...@freenet.toronto.on.ca | \_,^%--- llizard aka ejm | /> \ Where do I begin?????? _______|_ ___/ > _______ I'm reeling /|\ (Q o) > } JGS's { with / | \ '-~ /|^^ } TRASH { the | \ ejm97 | \ }__BIN__{ possibilities!
>Subject: Re: character set study >From: llizard <cq5...@freent.toronto.on.ca> >Date: Wed, Jan 28, 1998 07:17 EST >Message-id: <34C...@freent.toronto.on.ca> > ______%^|> > } JGS's {/ > > } TRASH { >,^ > } BIN { /| >ejm98 }_______{ | \ > > $$ > \_,^%--- > _4v_?__ _/> \ You're right, Andreas; > } JGS's { > there are tons of perfectly > } TRASH { >,^ good characters just discarded! > } BIN { /| (And how prodigal of Joan to >ejm98 }_____p_{ | \ throw away so many $$$$$) > Fl Qz > y How funny llizard!! Now if we could actually buy something with that character! :) -joan -- .==,_ .===,_`\ .====,_ ` \ .====,__ --- .==-,`~. \ `:`.__, --- `~~=-. \ /^^^ ...always on the go! --- `~~=. \ / `~. \ / spu...@juno.com ~. \____./ * joan stark * jgs `.=====) ___.--~~~--.__ ___\.--~~~ ~~~---.._|/ ~~~" / my ascii art gallery: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/7373/
>Date: Tue, Jan 27, 1998 20:20 EST >Message-id: <34C...@mpq.mpg.de> this is a very clever study... I'm not sure what it does tell you though about my ASCII art pictures... >> Character Occurances Percent of total >> ========= ========== ================ >> space 20055 63.223 definitely not a solid-style ASCII artist... Allen Mullen or the DutchDude would have a much lower space count... hmmmm, I also wonder if this takes into account how far the pic is to the right of the left margin... it may be misleading in terms of total utilization... >> _ 1662 5.239 >> | 1327 4.183 >> - 1237 3.899 >> . 1140 3.593 >> ' 971 3.061 >> \ 835 2.632 >> / 827 2.607 >> ` 543 1.711 yes, I'm a line style person... definitely. >> g 2 .006 >> j 2 .006 >> s 2 .006 oops-- must've snuck in a couple 'hidden' jgs on ya! >Hm, 51 (?) different characters. Only! Of the remaining characters, I can tell you that I don't use the $ or ?-- to me it is too distracting.... also too typical of GIFSCII pics...but there are some on the list that I do use:1 bd p m n uUH l m vy 7 A P-- not all the time-- you must've just missed them... I have yet to find uses for some of the others.... Zz 2 3 4 (besides a nose for a cat) 5 B E fF Gh J Kk M N Q R S T W-- >And a lot of discriminated characters here. Hear them crying? boo hoo-- sometimes I just feel that too many "real" letters take away from the look of an ASCII pic-- again, I'm not a big fan of GIFSCII-- I don't want my pics to look anything like them. Again- neat study-- I found it very interesting.. thank you! -joan -- .-. {\('v')/} (\_/) ____________________`( )'_____ ( =(^Y^)= (_ pun...@juno.com ^^" "^^ ____\_(m___m)_________)tark, joan ASCII art: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/7373/
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