Difference between revisions of "Internationalization"
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* [[Internationalization/developer_manual|Developer manual]]: developer manual for the i18n library | * [[Internationalization/developer_manual|Developer manual]]: developer manual for the i18n library | ||
* [[Internationalization/obstacles|Obstacles]]: setbacks we have encountered | * [[Internationalization/obstacles|Obstacles]]: setbacks we have encountered | ||
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Revision as of 23:20, 31 August 2006
Contents
Overview
"Many [people] would simply love seeing their computer screen showing a lot less of English, and far more of their own language." -- gettext doc
Our aim is not only to provide a framework to ease the translation of Eiffel-written applications, allowing the user to chose his/her preferred language at runtime, but also to let the developer access information and formats based on users' locale.
Brief history
Orginally the internationalisation (i18n) project was started as a required project for an ETH Software Architecture course. The result was less then perfect; pages referring to this first version have been given an 'SA' prefix. Some members of this SA project team decided to rewrite the library as a semester project. Pages on the wiki not prefixed with 'SA' are either applicable to both or to the semester project.
What is internationalisation?
The first thing that comes to mind is translation. But internationalisation isn't restricted to enabling translation: it includes making it possible to localise notations (time, date, numbers), measures, paper size, and much more.
What should we achieve?
- Applications should be able to load localized strings at runtime and be provided with localized format strings (e.g date format).
- Developers can use tools that automagically extract strings from source code and can try to get them translated in a file to distribute along with the application.
- Users will still be unhappy and get depressed but in their own language, which we can all agree is a significant step forward.
Specific goals of the semester project
to be completed
Milestones
add milestones of semesterproject
M5: July ??
- Refactoring of whole library
- Use our library for EiffelStudio
- Clean up Wiki and improve Developer manual
- Add support for other aspects of localisation - dates, number format etc. (possibly we can defer this a bit)
- Compile a list of basic features to provide (e.g. date/time format, system locale) (deferred from M3)
Documentation
- User manual: how to use the i18n library
- Developer manual: developer manual for the i18n library
- Obstacles: setbacks we have encountered
Relevant Links
What other people have done
howto for internationalisation of KDE programs
another KDE howto (doesn't Gnome do any internationalisation?)
Team
Everyone interested in this project is welcome to join our mailinglist es-i18n@origo.ethz.ch
Semester project
