Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement Panel Discussion

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 Agenda n Panel Introductions n Library Descriptions and Demos n What is Open Source? n What is the Open Source experience? n Q and A

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 Todays Panel n Frank Tang n Helena Shih n Ulrich Drepper n Tex Texin Netscape ICU glibc Moderator

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 Library Descriptions and Demos n GNU libc n Mozilla: International Library of Mozilla n IBM: International Components for Unicode

International Library for Mozilla Frank Tang Netscape Communications Mozilla

GNU Libc Ulrich Drepper GNU, RedHat

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 GNU libc n Library supporting multibyte and wide characters n localedef tool allows definition of locales for any charsets, including UTF8, UCS2 n using charset requires just a description and a conversion module n Wide character is UCS-4, native byte order

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 GNU libc conversion functions n iconv() implementation is unique n Conversions are transitive A to C = A to B to C n In most cases, UCS-4 is used as common denominator

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 Licensing & Development Process n RedHat is completely open source. n Code is licensed as LGPL, assigned to Free Software Foundation (FSF) n This is the same method as GNU n Small teams of developers with a dictatorial decision maker. n Comments accepted, taken into account n Extensive peer reviewing

International Components for Unicode (ICU) Helena Shih IBM Unicode Technology Center

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 Unicode support in the Industry n Lack of a complete set of features in most implementations. n Inconsistent across different environments. Win32 vs. POSIX, for example. n Poor portability. n Unable to share the resources with other products. n Almost no extensibility and customization. n Not a concern for most companies when a product is first designed.

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 AS/400 e-Server 720 Netfinity Server S/390 Server Apple G3 Macintosh Microsoft NT Workstation Sun Ultra 60 Workstation IBMs DB/2 Product World Wide Web ICUICUICUICU ICUICUICUICU

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 ICU Objectives n Single release for world-wide distribution n Quality Unicode & I18N support across platforms n Simplified development localization process n Consistent results in both C/C++ and Java n Powerful, portable API available to the Open- Source development community n Important resources sharing mechanism

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 ICU Features n Parallel to the i18n architecture in JDK n All components multi-thread safe n Full Unicode string manipulation n Complete locale support, e.g. > 145 locales n Fast and flexible character set conversion n Efficient data loading mechanism

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 ICU Features n Hierarchical resource bundles with flexible data storage mechanism n Extensive calendar and timezone support n Date, time, currency, number and message formatting n Locale sensitive sorting (including Thai) n Locale sensitive text boundary detection

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 ICU Features n Customizable transliteration interface n Unicode text compression algorithm n Fast and compliant Unicode 3.0 Bidi algorithm n Most up-to-date Unicode 3.0 support (including Normalization) n All APIs support UTF-16 n Partnership insures balanced viewpoints and practical solutions

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 ICU4J - ICU for Java n IBM developed extensive I18N library n I18N code added to Java JDK 1.1 n Java code ported to C++ -> ICU n ICU available on alphaWorks n Both ICU and Java classes continue development –Sometimes leapfrogging each other with features n ICU open source, moves to developerWorks n 2000 March: Java Code open source as ICU4J

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 ICU4J Features n Builds on Java 2 feature set n Feature summary: –Advanced text boundary detection –Calendars: Hebrew, Hijri/Islamic, Japanese Gengou, Thai Buddhist –Spelled-out numbers –Normalization –Transliteration –Standard Unicode compression

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 Demos n Locale Explorer n glibc

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 Agenda n Panel Introductions n Library Descriptions and Demos n What is Open Source? n What is the Open Source experience? n Q and A

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 ICU OpenSource Objectives n De facto industry standard for Unicode support n Pervasive globalization technologies n Mature globalization technologies for customers n Support for other important OpenSource products: L inux, Apache, Mozilla, XML etc.

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 Open-Source Models n The Apache model –Web access for CVS repository –Technical committees n Developer community support etc. mailing n Commercial product partnership –RealNames, versant, GE...

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 Why contribute to Open Source? n Requires robust I18n and portability n Implementing alone, cost is considerable n Sharing development is cost effective n Shared knowledge with experts n Ability to influence the end-result

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 Why contribute to Open Source? n Provide portability and interoperability n Going to Unicode 3.0 is a sizable effort n Commercial libraries insufficient n Shared effort means our development focus is now aligned with our needs n Share expertise, Give something n Source access-Education, Self-reliance

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 Why contribute to Open Source? n Concerns: –Giving away proprietary technology –Design by committee –Will release schedules fit product schedules? –Will library and product stay in synch? –Do all participants have common objectives?

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 Why contribute to Open Source? n Concerns: –Management Perceptions If its free, it must be for play… –Entry requirements and qualifications to be able to affect direction or design –Patch integration, Release control and schedules –Build stability

Panel on Open-Source Approaches to Unicode Enablement 17th International Unicode ConferenceSan Jose, California, September 2000 n Panel Introductions n Library Descriptions and Demos n What is Open Source? n What is the Open Source experience? n Q and A Agenda