CJKV Information Processing: Chinese, Japanese, Korean & Vietnamese Computing - Softcover

Lunde, Ken

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1565922247 ISBN 13: 9781565922242

Publisher: O'Reilly Media, 1999

Synopsis

CJKV Information Processing is the definitive guide for tackling the difficult issues faced when dealing with complex Asian languages -- Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese -- in the context of computing or Internet services.Unlike the English alphabet with a mere 26 letters, these complex writing systems use multiple alphabets comprising thousands of characters. Handling such an unwieldy amount of data is formidable and complex. Until now, working with these writing systems was an unattainable task to most, but this book clarifies the issues, even to those who don't understand East Asian languages.This new book contains revised information from Ken Lunde's first book, Understanding Japanese Information Processing, and supplements each chapter with meticulous details about how the Chinese (hanzi), Japanese (kana and kanji), Korean (hangul and hanja), and Vietnamese (Quoc ngu, chu Nom, and chu Han) writing systems have been implemented on contemporary computer systems. This book is unique in that it does not simply rattle off information that can be found in other sources, but rather it provides the reader with hitherto unexplained insights into how these complex writing systems have been adapted for use on computers, and provides the user and developer alike with useful and time-saving tips and techniques.Information on today's hot topics, such as how these writing systems impact contemporary Internet resources like the Web, HTML, XML, Java, and Adobe Acrobat, is also provided.This book is of incalculable value for the developer, programmer, user, and researcher -- anyone who comes into contact with these characters in the context of computers or the Internet needs this book. Topics covered in this book include:

• Writing systems
• Character set standards
• Encoding methods
• Input methods
• Font formats
• Typography
• Output methods
• Programming and code conversion techniques
• Dictionaries and dictionary software

This volume also contains a host of valuable appendixes, such as code conversion tables, character set tables, character set indexes, mapping tables, Perl code examples, a glossary, and a detailed bibliography.

About this title

Review

CJKV Information Processing covers all major writing systems for Vietnamese (including Quôc ngu, chu Nôm and chu Han), Japanese (kana and kanji), Korean (hangul and hanja), and Chinese (hanzi), plus the various means of integrating multiple character sets and systems for transliterating these languages into the Latin alphabet. Author Ken Lunde explains what's involved in taking input in the various languages and goes into great detail about output, including some detailed coverage of professional-quality computer typesetting with Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese (CJKV) characters.

But CJKV Information Processing doesn't restrict itself to input and output issues. There's extensive coverage of the special issues that arise when you attempt to work with multibyte characters inside programs--especially Java programs, since that language is especially adroit at internationalization tasks. You'll find ready-to-use algorithms for detecting and converting characters among the various sets.

Almost half of the book is consumed by exhaustive character tables listing every CJKV character set ever defined by a standards body, software vendor, or other organization. Comprehensive is the operative word here--Lunde even gives space to 145 hanzi characters defined by Hong Kong's Department of the Judiciary. You'll find a full suite of keyboard mapping tables, too. With the same thoroughness and clarity that made his Understanding Japanese Information Processing such a hit among members of the Pacific Rim crowd, Ken Lunde provides an unparalleled guide to computing with the CJKV character sets. --David Wall

About the Author

Ken Lunde was born in 1965 in Madison, Wisconsin, grew up in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, and entered the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1985 as a freshman. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in linguistics in 1987. He received his Master of Arts degree in linguistics in 1988. He finally received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in linguistics in 1994, and his dissertation was entitled "Prescriptive Kanji Simplification." He joined Adobe Systems Incorporated in 1991, and is currently Project Manager, CJK Type Development.

About this edition

• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1565922247
• ISBN 13: 9781565922242
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 1128