ok@cs.mu.oz.au (Richard O'Keefe) (11/09/89)
In article <807@shelby.Stanford.EDU>, Tor Lillqvist <tml@hemuli.atk.vtt.fi> wrote: > Another matter that might need some standardization is the allocation > of language numbers. I suggest that a range of the numbers (half of > them?) is allocated to fixed languages, and that the rest are > site-specific. I hereby claim number 1 for Swedish (my native > language), and number 2 for Finnish :-) :-) I really hate to do this. It really hurts me to recommend anything from the PC world. But just because it's in OS/2 doesn't mean it's bad... OS/2 National Language Support already has a set of "country codes" assigned. Now countries aren't languages -- Switzerland is one country with four languages, English is one language with many countries -- but it's a good place to start, and most internationalisation is going to be country-based rather than language-based anyway (currency symbols and date styles vary in countries with the same language). Instead of inventing yet another scheme, why not use the same numbers that OS/2 does? And when I tell you that 044 = the United Kingdom 046 = Sweden 358 = Finland perhaps you will see where OS/2 gets its numbers...
ath@prosys.se (Anders Thulin) (11/10/89)
Tor Lillqvist <tml@hemuli.atk.vtt.fi>: > > [ ... claimed language number 1 for Swedish and 2 for Finnish ... ] ok@cs.mu.oz.au (Richard O'Keefe): > > [ ... suggested (with a shudder) OS/2 country numbers ... ] Another possibility is to adopt the language codes used in the ISBN codes numbers. -- Anders Thulin, Programsystem AB, Teknikringen 2A, S-583 30 Linkoping, Sweden ath@prosys.se {uunet,mcsun}!sunic!prosys!ath
tml@hemuli.atk.vtt.fi (Tor Lillqvist) (11/13/89)
In article <2663@munnari.oz.au> ok@cs.mu.oz.au (Richard O'Keefe) writes:
OS/2 National Language Support already has a set of "country
codes" assigned. Now countries aren't languages -- Switzerland is one
country with four languages, English is one language with many countries --
044 = the United Kingdom
046 = Sweden
358 = Finland
perhaps you will see where OS/2 gets its numbers...
(Telephone country code numbers.) The problem with using these
numbers is that Knuth chose to use one-byte language numbers, 0..255.
And, as you say, there are many countries with multiple languages.--
Tor Lillqvist, VTT/ATKirf@kuling.UUCP (Bo Thide') (11/13/89)
In article <4296@hemuli.atk.vtt.fi> tml@hemuli.atk.vtt.fi (Tor Lillqvist) writes: >In article <2663@munnari.oz.au> ok@cs.mu.oz.au (Richard O'Keefe) writes: > > OS/2 National Language Support already has a set of "country > codes" assigned. Now countries aren't languages -- Switzerland is one > country with four languages, English is one language with many countries The Native Language System as defined by HP (who once invented the NLS thing) supports different regional languages, cultural customs, collating sequences etc for one and the same country. They also support 16 bits characters and are now introducing 32 bit ones. NLS with 8 bit support is now an X/Open requirement (see the green X/Open books). X/Open has identified ISO 8859-1 Latin as the first 8-bit character set so I really hope TeX will be right this time. The national character support in TeX 2.x is terrible. Bo
ok@cs.mu.oz.au (Richard O'Keefe) (11/13/89)
In article <1237@kuling.UUCP>, irf@kuling.UUCP (Bo Thide') writes: > The Native Language System as defined by HP (who once invented the NLS thing) > supports different regional languages, cultural customs, collating sequences > etc for one and the same country. They also support 16 bits characters and > are now introducing 32 bit ones. NLS with 8 bit support is now an X/Open > requirement (see the green X/Open books). Please correct my ignorance: what are the green X/Open books and how do I see them?
irf@kuling.UUCP (Bo Thide') (11/13/89)
In article <2694@munnari.oz.au> ok@cs.mu.oz.au (Richard O'Keefe) writes: >> are now introducing 32 bit ones. NLS with 8 bit support is now an X/Open >> requirement (see the green X/Open books). > >Please correct my ignorance: > what are the green X/Open books and how do I see them? The books are called "X/Open Portability Guide". The 1987 issue had 4 volumes (and they all had green covers) and this is what we have in our lab now. I understand that the latest 1989 issue consists of 6 (or 7?) volumes but I don't know their colour :-) Ordering information: "X/Open Portability Guide", 1987 issue ISBN numbers 0 444 7017x y, (x,y=volume dependent digits) Elsevier Science Publishing Company, Inc. 52 Vanderbilt Avenue New York, N.Y. 10017 USA or your nearest computer bookstore. ^ Bo Thide'-------------------------------------------------------------- | | Swedish Institute of Space Physics, S-755 91 Uppsala, Sweden |I| [In Swedish: Institutet f|r RymdFysik, Uppsalaavdelningen (IRFU)] |R| Phone: (+46) 18-403000. Telex: 76036 (IRFUPP S). Fax: (+46) 18-403100 /|F|\ INTERNET: bt@irfu.se UUCP: ...!uunet!sunic!irfu!bt ~~U~~ -----------------------------------------------------------------sm5dfw
ath@prosys.se (Anders Thulin) (11/14/89)
In article <1239@kuling.UUCP> irf@kuling.UUCP (Bo Thide') writes: >In article <2694@munnari.oz.au> ok@cs.mu.oz.au (Richard O'Keefe) writes: >> what are the green X/Open books and how do I see them? >I understand that the latest 1989 issue consists of 6 (or 7?) volumes but >I don't know their colour :-) > The latest version is in 7 volumes, with white covers. It is published by Prentice-Hall. -- Anders Thulin, Programsystem AB, Teknikringen 2A, S-583 30 Linkoping, Sweden ath@prosys.se {uunet,mcsun}!sunic!prosys!ath