The issue of non-ASCII-constrained environments is that it's still not easily accessible on most keyboards.
I do know and use the compose key but it's not the same as having a standard key for it. Trying on a mobile device, long pressing the dash key there suggests 2 dashes (not sure if the second choice is en-dash or em-dash), which is some but that's not the 4 types discussed here.
It’s easier to type HYPHEN-MINUS‐the‐keyboard-key, but text should be displayed using the appropriate glyph, depending on its semantic meaning, which is never HYPHEN-MINUS‐the-glyph.
(This discussion is similar to the classic net discussion about TAB‐the‐ASCII‐character versus TAB‐the‐keyboard‐key, with some people having trouble conceptualizing the difference.)
"Hyphen‐minus" is an ASCII abomination, and should only be used in ASCII‐constrained environments. Hyphen is hyphen and minus is minus:
‐ 002010;HYPHEN;Pd;0;ON;;;;;N;;;;;
− 002212;MINUS SIGN;Sm;0;ES;;;;;N;;;;;
The issue of non-ASCII-constrained environments is that it's still not easily accessible on most keyboards.
I do know and use the compose key but it's not the same as having a standard key for it. Trying on a mobile device, long pressing the dash key there suggests 2 dashes (not sure if the second choice is en-dash or em-dash), which is some but that's not the 4 types discussed here.
If a character is too difficult to type on some specific system, that is indeed a constrained environment.
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I was wondering what's better. The document is clearer if we use unicode.
But maybe for humans it's easier if we have a limited character set and use context instead. Like this.
In plain text, - is a hyphen:
In math context - is a minus sign
Where it will be ensured to be rendered as appropriate
It’s easier to type HYPHEN-MINUS‐the‐keyboard-key, but text should be displayed using the appropriate glyph, depending on its semantic meaning, which is never HYPHEN-MINUS‐the-glyph.
(This discussion is similar to the classic net discussion about TAB‐the‐ASCII‐character versus TAB‐the‐keyboard‐key, with some people having trouble conceptualizing the difference.)