i18n&l10n & Unicode support in Pharo

Hello,

just starting with Pharo and I'm thinking about i18n/l10n capabilities
within environment to make one's app read for several langauges.

I've found out I18n (http://smalltalkhub.com/#!/~TorstenBergmann/I18N)
project but it seems there are no new contrubutions in last 2 years.

I've also discovered 'Unicode project' thread on dev-list, but would
like to get some pointer about the current (5.0 <= Pharo < 6) state of
affairs in regard writing multi-language-capable and Unicode-aware apps
in Pharo?


Sincerely,
Gour

--
Thus the wise living entity's pure consciousness becomes covered by
his eternal enemy in the form of lust, which is never satisfied and
which burns like fire.

For the translation part of l10n, there's also a package providing gettext support if needed.
locale support is limited to an API similar to *nix locales.

"Unicode-aware" is a wide topic, as reflected by the plethora of functional bits and bobs defined by different parts of the standard.
(With base image)
Can you represent all Unicode string? Yes.
Can you pass them to other systems in Unicode encodings? Yes.
Is the text renderer (in image) capable of displaying Unicode code points? Yes, if glyph is included in fonts.
(With Unicode project)
Can you query  Unicode properties of any codepoint? Yes
Can you normalize strings in the different forms? Yes.
Can you sort strings in Unicode collate order? Yes.
(With both)
Can you sort strings in CLDR-locale collate order? No.
Can you do regexp as per the Unicode spec? No.
Does the text renderer (in image) heed Unicode properties such as RTL and combining marks? No

Depending on what you want to do, the base image capabilities may be considered sufficient for writing multi-language-capable apps,
but for more advanced Unicode functionality, the groundworks is there, (ie, querying properties, normalization, the core collate algorithm) but many practical uses are as of yet unimplemented, the complete lack of CLDR support ranking high.

Cheers,
Henry

The big eyesore in

On Wed, 17 Aug 2016 12:39:57 +0200 Henrik Johansen
<[hidden email]> wrote:

> For the translation part of l10n, there's also a package providing
> gettext support if needed. locale support is limited to an API
> similar to *nix locales.

Having gettext support is nice considering it's kind of 'standard, but
wonder whether it's recommended withing Pharo community?
It looks pretty good considering I'm mostly considering to have app
available in English language, my native language (Croatian) and some
major ones...For some special things like left-to-right etc. it's
probably beyond my means atm.

> Depending on what you want to do, the base image capabilities may be
> considered sufficient for writing multi-language-capable apps, but
> for more advanced Unicode functionality, the groundworks is there,
> (ie, querying properties, normalization, the core collate algorithm)
> but many practical uses are as of yet unimplemented, the complete
> lack of CLDR support ranking high.

Is there a plan to include Unicode project within Pharo's core image?


Sincerely,
Gour

--
Whatever action a great man performs, common men follow. And
whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.