Well, actually each integer (code) represents some character in a
coded character set. Characters often, but not always, have a single
glyph image.
>If this is the case couldn't we pick a single encoding to support in
>VRML and get rid of the encoding field?
Not really, and the main reasons are:
1) Lack of tools
2) Emotional attachment to established encodings
3) No single encoding is optimal for everything
What does it mean to encode JISX 0208 using UTF8? This is perfectly
possible, but the tools for data creation do not exist, and even if
they did, most people would not appreciate the fact that the could not
look at a VRML file in their PC editor, and understand what was
contained in the text nodes.
As I have said: I think UTF8 and ISO 10646 to be admirably suited to
the needs of VRML, but the lack of tools, combined with technical
issues, and the emotional responses, basically disallows it as a sole
solution to the problem *unless* eveyone is prepared for a battle at
some point in the future. I think designing a general purpose text
node, but *strongly recommending* that ISO 10646 + UTF8 be used, is
the way to go.