Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!aussie!rex From: rex@aussie.COM (Rex Jaeschke) Newsgroups: comp.std.c Subject: Re: Localization (4.4.2.1) Message-ID: <56.UUL1.3#5077@aussie.COM> Date: 18 Feb 91 14:28:28 GMT References: Organization: Journal of C Language Translation Lines: 60 > The whole locale stuff is botched, in my opinion. It seems that too You still have not said in what way. Give a specific example please. > few people did have any real interest in this. The solution proposed > is very cumbersome, and using it in all its ramifications basically > requires a tutorial or at least a lot of example code. I haven't > looked very hard, so I would appreciate pointers to such things if > they do exist. I expect that most programmers will fall into 2 main camps: those that will use the "C" locale getting the behavior they have been used to for years; and those who use an entire local locale. That is, they will not likely use composite locales. In the latter case I expect implementers will provide a compiler option to make their own locale the default so programmers won't even have to call setlocale. (This might not be sanctioned by Standard C but if you aren't interested in portability so what?) If you want to mix locales then I agree it can get messy. But the simple fact is that places near (and not so near) international borders DO HAVE composite ways of doing things. For example, one Swiss location might use composites made up from France, Switzerland, and Italy while another might use German and/or Austrian. I think the ability to have composite locales simply reflects the real world. As to a tutorial, I think the definition of locales was intentionally left vague so we did not arbitrarily constrain implementors. As more experience is gained it will be documented. PJ Plauger, ANSI C secretary and ISO C convenor, played a significant role in our support for internationalization. He is now an independent consultant and recently, finished writing a complete portable C runtime library (in C, of course). He is licensing this to implementors. This will all be documented in his upcoming book from Prentice-Hall and the source will be available `at reasonable cost'. One thing he has spent quite some time on is locales. Basically, he spent lot's of time looking at ways to implement them given the direction of ANSI C. He has suceeded in doing so and learned a lot along the way. He documents much of his efforts in his column in the March 1991 issue of my publication `The Journal of C Language Translation.' And I expect there will be a second article probably in June. I am not personally aware of many groups working hard on locale definitions. One I do know is DEC. Their PDP-11 C compiler group supports quite an elaborate set. I mentioned the Danish national effort last posting. I suspect IBM, H-P, AT&T, and Unisys all have significant efforts in this area given their general interest in internationalization. Note too that all these companies were represented on ANSI C and I recall seeing input from them during deliberations. Rex ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rex Jaeschke | Journal of C Language Translation | C Users Journal (703) 860-0091 | 2051 Swans Neck Way | DEC PROFESSIONAL rex@aussie.COM | Reston, Virginia 22091, USA | Programmers Journal ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Convener of the Numerical C Extensions Group (NCEG) X3J11 member and US International Representative to ISO C (WG14) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------