ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG20 N347


ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG20

INTERNATIONALIZATION


Date: August 9, 1995

Title: Convenor's report - September 1995

Source: Arnold F. Winkler - convenor SC22/WG20

Action: For information and consideration

Distribution: SC22 plenary


This report will cover the following:

Membership of WG20

Countries

Liaisons

Meetings of WG20

Projects of WG20

Overview

Status

Future possibilities

Conclusions and requests

1 Membership of SC22/WG20

1.1 Countries

1.1.1 P- members of SC22

Australia          Austria            Belgium            Brazil             
Bulgaria           Canada             China              Denmark            
Finland            France             Germany            Greece             
Japan              Netherlands        New Zealand        Romania            
Slovenia           Sweden             Switzerland        Ukraine            
United Kingdom     United States      

1.1.2 O-members of SC22

Argentina          Cuba               Czech/Slovak Rep.  Hungary            
Iceland            India              Italy              Korean Republic    
Norway             Poland             Portugal           Russian Federation 
Singapore          Thailand           Turkey             Yugoslavia         


1.2 Liaisons to and from SC22/WG20


from WG20           Organization         Subject              to WG20              

T.K. Sato           SC2/WG2              Character Sets       T.K. Sato            

Keld Simonsen       SC22/WG15            POSIX                Keld Simonsen        

                    SC22/WG4             COBOL                Ann Wallace          

Miles Ellis         SC22/WG5             FORTRAN              Miles Ellis          

                    SC21/WG3             SQL                  Jim Melton           

Keld Simonsen       SC22/WG14            C                    Keld Simonsen        

Keld Simonsen       SC22/WG21            C++                  Keld Simonsen        

Gary Miller         X/Open               I18n                 Gary Miller          

Alain LaBonté       SHARE-Europe         I18n                 Alain LaBonté        

Alain LaBonté       CEN TC 304           I18n                 Keld Simonsen        
Keld Simonsen                                                                      

Rafik Belhadj       ECMA  ATG            Arabic task group                         

Alain LaBonté       SC18/WG9             I/O                                       

Alain LaBonté       SC18                 C/G Model                                 

Keld Simonsen       TC37/SC2/WG3         Alphabetic ordering                       

                    SC22/WG22            PCTE                 Keld Simonsen        



1.3 Meetings of SC22/WG20


November 1991              Sunnyvale                   USA                        
April 1992                 Paris                       France                     
October 1992               Québec                      Canada                     
April 1993                 Copenhagen                  Denmark                    
October 1993               Tokyo                       Japan                      
April 1994                 Oxford                      United Kingdom             
October 1994               Cupertino                   USA                        
May 1995                   Paris                       France                     
September 1995             Copenhagen                  Denmark                    
April 1996                 Kyoto                       Japan                      
September 1996             Vienna                      Austria                    
Spring 1997                Québec                      Canada                     


2. Projects of SC22/WG20

2.1 List of current projects


Number          Description                                    Editor            

22.13           Second edition of TR 10176: "Guidelines for    Akio Kido         
                the preparation of programming language        Makoto Noda       
                standards"                                                       

22.30.01        TR 11017: "Framework for                       T.K. Sato         
                internationalization"                                            

22.30.02.01     Functionality of the internationalization of   Keld Simonsen     
                applications                                                     

22.30.02.02     ISO/IEC 14651: International string ordering   Alain LaBonté     

22.30.02.03     ISO/IEC 14652: Specification of Cultural       Keld Simonsen     
                Conventions                                                      



2.2 Status of active projects

2.2.1 TR 11017: Framework for internationalization

a Framework for internationalization

b JTC1 22.30.01

c A new type 3 Technical Report

d T. K. Sato

e N277 accepted as PDTR. The DTR text, SC22/WG20 N366, will be submitted for JTC1 ballot after the disposition of ballot comments.

2.2.2 Second edition of TR 10176

a Guidelines for the preparation of programming languages standards

b JTC1 22.13

c An amendment to a type 3 Technical Report

d A. Kido and M. Noda

e Working draft #4 (SC22/WG20 N333) was discussed in Paris May 1995, supported by a questionnaire, for which more answers are expected. The resulting document (SC22/WG20 N377) is submitted to the SC22 plenary in Annapolis for PDTR registration

2.2.3 International string ordering (future ISO/IEC 14651)

a International string ordering

b JTC1 22.30.02.02

c International Standard ISO/IEC 14651

d Alain LaBonté

e Working draft (SC22/WG20 N344) has been discussed at WG20 meeting in Paris and extensively on the iso10646 electronic distribution list. A request for sorting tables has been sent to SC22 members in July 1995. WG20 plans to submit SC22/WG20 N388 for a combined CD registration and consideration ballot in October 1995.

2.2.4 Cultural convention specification standard (future ISO/IEC 14652)

a Cultural convention specification standard

b JTC1.22.30.02.03

c International Standard ISO/IEC 14652

d Keld Simonsen

e WG20 N380 is current document, based on WG20 N116 and additional input.

2.3 Candidate projects

2.3.1 Functionality of Internationalization

a Functionality of the internationalization of applications

b JTC1 22.30.02.01

c A number of standards, see subproject descriptions below

d Keld Simonsen

e This is an umbrella project

This project is the umbrella project for the development of specific standards for functionality of the internationalization of applications, such that users can specify their cultural requirements, and obtain consistent behavior across system platforms and applications. Work is being done on the following projects:

- International string ordering (future ISO/IEC 14651)

- Cultural convention specification standard (future ISO/IEC 14652)

WG20 has submitted a request for subdivision of this project to include an Internationalization API standard.

WG20 might consider producing additional standards to help SC22 member bodies and SC22 WGs accommodate user needs for internationalization support in applications, for example:

- a registration standard for cultural convention-sets

- a standard for the classification of IS 10646 repertoire characters

2.3.2 Internationalization API

a Internationalization API

b A proposed subdivision of JTC1.22.30.02.01

c An International Standard

d Keld Simonsen (nominated)

e No input papers yet, but the required services are described in the PDTR 11017.

A Language Independent API standard on internationalization services. The services defined will include:

date format service

time format service

day numbering service

week numbering service

numeric formatting service

currency formatting service

measuring system service

compare, sort and search services

paper format service

cultural convention-set invocation service

character set handling service

character set identification service

data class definition service

case mapping service

data presentation service

data announcement service

data communication service

data input service

character set invocation service

multilingual support service

message service

language selection service

2.3.3 Cultural convention-set registry

a Cultural convention-set registry

b A proposal for a new project exists

c An International Standard for registry procedure and an International Registry

d Keld Simonsen and the Danish UNIX User Group are nominated as the project editor and registration authority

e The NP (SC22 N1513) has been balloted and received less than enthusiastic acceptance - 3 yes, 2 yes with comments, 3 no, 2 abstain, 12 not voting. This shows very little support from the member bodies and the proposal needs further definition. WG20 decided that, for the time being, this proposed NP should not be pursued until some of the current projects are completed and more resources are available to tackle the registry again with a more specific proposal.

2.3.4 Classification of the characters of the IS 10646 repertoire

a Classification of the characters of the IS 10646 repertoire

b A proposal for a subdivision of JTC1.22.30.02.01 will be needed

c An International Standard

d Keld Simonsen (nominated)

e Work is being done in SC2/WG2 upon request from SC22/WG20.

3 Conclusions and requests

3.1 Issues

3.1.1 Resources for standards development

The biggest issue in SC22/WG20 - as in most other standards developing organizations - is that many companies can not afford to make enough resources available for speedy development of standards. For many participants in our meetings, the meeting time is the only time they can spend on the projects. Additionally, travel budgets are tight, thus restricting the participation even further.

We know that we are not the only working group confronted with this problem. Let us hope for better times soon.

3.2 Requests to the SC22 plenary

3.2.1 Register SC22/WG20 N377 as PDTR 10176 at this meeting

3.2.2 Approve the change of titles :

ISO/IEC 11017: Framework for internationalization

ISO/IEC 14651: International string ordering

3.2.3 Encourage the SC22 national bodies to provide the requested tables for the future international string ordering standard IS 14651

3.2.4 Encourage SC2 and SC2/WG2 to address the old problem of unique short identifiers for ISO/IEC 10646 characters in the form of U[yxxx]xxxx.


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