oster@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu (David Phillip Oster) (10/04/87)
I've just been reading the "Script Manager Manual" for Apple's
Macintosh. It describes code built into the Mac II ROMs and supplied
as part of the resident system software on MacPlus's and Mac SE's that
enables the Macintosh system to handle multiple scripts
simultaneously.
According to the manual, the ROM text editor support having multiple
fonts in multiple sizes and colors on a line, and on that same line
having multiple writing systems. For Example, on the same line you
can have English, French, Japanese, and Arabic. Click on the Japanese
text and the operating system interprets characters as pairs in order
to support the large japanese character set. Click in the Arabic
portion of the line, and text inserts from left to right, and each
letter mutates correctly depending on its neighbor. The typing system
of the keyboard swaps appropriately, and a small icon on the memu bar
reminds you which way the keyboard is mapped at the moment. Each
language system has its own collating routine, transliteration routine
(uppercase, or to Roman) There is operating system support to print
the date, and for non-roman dates, for the way different countries
display numbers (thousands seperator character and decimal point
character), for the way different countries display time, and
currency.
In addition to the supplied Text Editor in ROM, there are also tips on
using the routines to implement your own text editor.
Since the day of introduction of the Macintosh, Apple has published
detailed guidlines for writing software that can be customized for
each country. In the early days of the Mac, only languages based on
the Roman alphabet were supported. I'm pleased to see Apple taking
positive steps to help me write software that will be easy to use
anywhere in the world.
Flaws:
It doesn't support vertical writing. It doesn't know that the week
does begins on different days in different countries. Not all the
allocated National Script Interface systems are finished (I've got
English, Japanese and Arabic.)
--- David Phillip Oster --A Sun 3/60 makes a poor Macintosh II.
Arpa: oster@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu --A Macintosh II makes a poor Sun 3/60.
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