2 @mainpage The m17n library documentation
4 @section sect2 What is the m17n library?
6 The @e m17n @e library is a multilingual text processing library
7 for the C language. m17n is an abbreviation of
11 <li>m17n-lib is an open source software.
13 <li>m17n-lib is for any Linux/Unix applications.
15 <li>m17n-lib realizes multilingualization of many aspects of applications.
17 <li>m17n-lib represents multilingual text as an object named
18 M-text. M-text is a string with attributes called text properties,
19 and designed to substitute for string in C. Text properties carry
20 information required to input, display and edit the text.
22 <li>m17n-lib supports functions to handle M-texts.
27 The @e m17n @e library provides following facilities to handle
31 <li> @e M-text: A data structure for multilingual text objects.
33 <li> Functions for creating and processing M-texts.
35 <li> Decoders and encoders for converting M-texts from/to strings
36 encoded in various existing formats.
38 <li> A huge character space, which contains all the Unicode
39 characters and more non-Unicode characters.
41 <li> @e Chartable: A data structure that contains per-character
42 information effectively.
44 <li> Functions for inputting and displaying M-text.
47 @section sect1 Why Multilingual? Why Library?
49 Multilingualization in software refers to a form of
50 internationalization, where many kinds of cultural conventions,
51 such as languages and scripts, can be used simultaneously on the
52 software. In order to share information in the whole world, we
53 need a computer environment where support for every language is
56 Currently software developers tend to design and implement
57 multilingual facilities on their own, even though their software
58 do not focus on multilingualization or text handling itself. They
59 indeed need strings or text in user interface, but it is
60 peripheral at most. Mozilla, Perl, and Ruby are good
61 examples. This situation is waste of time and effort.
63 Multilingualization in most software is peripheral, that is,
64 multilingual facilities can be isolated from other (main) parts
65 of the software. At the same time, most software has common
66 requirement for their multilingual interfaces. A library that
67 fulfils those requirement can be used from various
68 applications and will make software development more efficient
71 @section contact Contact us:
73 Global IT Security Group<br>
74 Information¡¡Technology Research Institute<br>
75 Institute of¡¡Advanced Industrial Science and Technology<br>
77 E-mail:Mule-aist@m17n.org