为什么在 IBM 的代码页 437 中有一个“小房子”？

Companion to Article: This post is a companion to The origins of DEL (0x7F) and its Legacy in Amiga ASCII art, focusing on IBM's PC and its Code Page 437 where DEL is represented as a house.
Code Page 437 Rise: Released in 1981, IBM PC led to the widespread adoption of Code Page 437. It was based on ASCII with extended bits containing various characters. The first 32 "not serious" characters include smileys, etc., and 0x7F is the "small house" representing DEL.
Theories on House Origin:
- Theory #1: House as symbol for home computers, maybe to signal fun with text-based games.
- Theory #2: House character related to deleting text or backspace symbol ⌫.
- Theory #3: Related to "Home" key for resetting cursor.
- Theory #4: Not borrowed from System/23 Datamaster.
- Theory #5: Not borrowed from Wang word processing machines.
- Theory #6: Borrowed from Blissymbolics, as its house glyph is similar.
- Theory #7: Botched copy of a dot-stretched Wang delta, which resembles the house.
- Theory #8: Maybe related to delta in APL, but no strong connection.
- Theory #9: 1981 IBM PC Technical Reference shows 0x7F as delta, but 1982 IBM BASIC Manual shows it as a house, with inconsistent renderings in different materials.
- Theory #10: Greek delta also looks like a house, but we don't know the actual IBM PC Greek font.
- Theory #11: All characters in CP437 have a design feature of forcing diagonal lines to 45˚, so the delta's transformation into a house may be deliberate.
What We Know: We only know that IBM was confused about whether 0x7F should be a delta or a house. The consistent inconsistencies in IBM's documents, fonts, and registries suggest miscommunication. The house symbol was added to Unicode in 1993.
PC ASCII Art: The house character is used in PC ASCII art in various ways, demonstrating its flexibility.
Reader's Theories: Some readers suggested it represents a tab stop or a similar part of earlier typewriters, but there's no concrete evidence before 1981.
Further Reading: Check out the "main" article for more on the history of the DEL character in Amiga ASCII art.