Encoding.GetEncoding(437).GetString() bug?

Question

I have following test program

char c = \'§\';
Debug.WriteLine(\"c: \" + (int)c);

byte b = Encoding.GetEncoding(437).GetBytes(\"§\")[0];
Debug.WriteLine(\"b:         


        

Answer 1

CP437 is not "two-way" for characters in the range 0-31. As stated in the Wikipedia page you linked:

For many uses, the codes in the range 0 to 31 and the code 127 will not produce these symbols. Some (or all) of them will be interpreted as ASCII control characters.

Mapping an Unicode character to a supported CP437 character that is in this range works, but not the other way around. For example, take characters represented by bytes 13 and 10: chances are that if you got them inside a CP437 string, you actually want carriage return and line feed characters to be preserved, and not converted to a bullet and a music note. This behavior is normal: it's not a bug.