What would be the purpose of it being escaped?
Assuming \\, escaped , why put $asc(\\,) when you could just put 44 in place of the lot.
I see no problem with the small level of limitations placed on $asc in this sence, becuase you really just dont need to be evaluating constants, you should just get the value and use it, now if its a dynamic string containing "," then $asc well work fine of course.
