ERCB: Java Internationalization

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Title	Java Internationalization
Authors	Andrew Deitsch and Dave Czarnecki
Publisher	O'Reilly & Associates http://www.ora.com/
Copyright	2001
ISBN	0-596-00019-7
Pages	462
Price	$39.95

Java Internationalization

The Java programming environment is like a shopping mall -- it's got one or two of everything you might need. Thus, Java possesses a reasonably complete model of application internationalization (I18N) and localization (L10N). Java's facilities in these regards constitute a sort of a snapshot of the technology in these related domains as it existed when Java itself was composed.

In Java Internationalization, Andrew Deitsch and Dave Czarnecki take you on a tour of the I18N and L10N facilities. It's a solid work whose authors, if not practicing a rigid written economy, always stay pertinent. It's accurate, it's complete, and it's pleasant to read.

Much of the amiable ambiance of this book arises from the linguistic skills of the authors. Deitsch and Czarnecki demonstrate expertise in several foreign languages; one or both of these gentlemen is clearly quite the polyglot. They have conscientiously written for anyone interested in I18N and L10N in Java, but they entertain as well.

The meticulously laid-out fonts and formatting add unanticipated beauty to what one might suppose to be a dry piece of technical writing. You open this book to acquire trade expertise but find yourself peering down the well into the history of writing systems from the earliest times. This is an especially poignant vision at an age of humankind when the printed page begins to yield to the rasterized page.

The chapters of the book are:

Introduction to Internationalization
Writing Systems
Locales
Isolating Locale-Specific Data with Resource Bundles
Formatting Messages
Character Sets and Unicode
Searching, Sorting and Text Boundary Detection
Fonts and Text Rendering
Internationalized Graphical User Interfaces
Input Methods
Internationalized Web Applications
Future Enhancements to the Internationalization Support in Java

Conforming to longstanding, if informal, tradition in computer technical publishing, the first 10 chapters deal with subjects that are unarguably germane to the theme and that can be treated adequately. Chapter 11 makes the customary gesture towards what lies beyond the scope of the present volume and tackles a subject too vast for treatment, while chapter 12 offers the nearly obligatory digression into speculation and punditry.

Java Internationalization is delightful, not only because it is a fine, compact, visually appealing, and accurate piece of technical writing, but because it is written by individuals who not only needed to know, but at a personal level had to know.

-- Jack Woehr (http://www.softwoehr.com)

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