thanks Addison. I agree that stringprep and NFKC aren't suitable for all apps, which is why I am being cautious with this usage. But it seems to fit the bill given the legacy constraints, provided that compatibility characters do make distinctions that are important to user's names. I don't think they do, but I thought I would check with the experts.
thanks for the comments! tex "Addison Phillips [wM]" wrote: > > Hi Tex, > > webMethods has used a (slightly modified) version of punycode for handling generated > class names in Java in several products very successfully for several years now. The > slight modification is to subtitute underscore for the dash character (since one is > illegal in Java class names). Punycode has proven to be exceedingly robust for this > type of application, although the algorithm is very arcane. > > Our ACE coder doesn't directly impose NFKC or any of the stringprep type > preparations. In our application of ACEs users create objects visually and we > generate Java code named after the objects in a process invisible to users. Although > NFKC and stringprep are reasonable restrictions for IDN, with its peculiar > requirements, it doesn't follow that it is good for all applications. Punycode (and > all other ACEs) are essentially transfer encoding schemes for Unicode code points. > The ASCII sequences they generate are unique to any particular Unicode scalar > sequence. > > It's true that logins have many similarities to IDN in terms of requirements, > though. Just note that there is no reason why an internal algorithm *has* to do both > stringprep and punycode or has to do stringprep in the IDN way... > > I have a whitepaper on the subject which expands (a tiny amount) on webMethods use > of ACEs that was presented at IUCs twice, the last one being at Unicode 22, called > "Four ACEs: A Survey of ASCII Compatible Encodings". The PDF is on my personal > website http://www.inter-locale.com. I can't remember, but I think this one was a > substitute paper at IUC22, so it probably isn't in the program proceedings. > > Hope this helps, > > Addison > > Addison P. Phillips > Director, Globalization Architecture > webMethods | Delivering Global Business Visibility > http://www.webMethods.com > Chair, W3C Internationalization (I18N) Working Group > Chair, W3C-I18N-WG, Web Services Task Force > http://www.w3.org/International > > Internationalization is an architecture. > It is not a feature. > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Tex Texin > > Sent: 2004年8月11日 18:29 > > To: Unicoders > > Subject: valid characters in user names- esp. compatibility characters > > > > > > hi, > > > > 1) I am looking at a set of legacy applications that would like > > to extend user > > IDs to support international characters. > > It is not possible to update all of the applications > > simultaneously to fully > > support unicode, so I am considering an algorithmic mapping of the > > international IDs to an ASCII-based encoding and a layering similar to how > > domain names were extended to be international. > > > > However, I am curious as to whether some Users might read/write > > their names > > using compatibility characters (esp. in ideographic markets) and > > object to the > > characters being normalized through nfkc. I thought it might be > > like someone > > spelling their name incorrectly. I don't know enough about > > ideographic names or > > the compat. characters to evaluate if it would be perceived as a > > problem by > > users. If any CJK experts would comment on this, it would be appreciated. > > > > 2) I am also getting questions about the robustness and stability > > of the GNU > > libidn implementations of stringprep and punycode which are being > > considered. I > > would be glad to hear privately if you have used them and what > > your experience > > was/is. > > > > tia > > tex > > > > -- > > ------------------------------------------------------------- > > Tex Texin cell: +1 781 789 1898 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Xen Master http://www.i18nGuy.com > > > > XenCraft http://www.XenCraft.com > > Making e-Business Work Around the World > > ------------------------------------------------------------- > > -- ------------------------------------------------------------- Tex Texin cell: +1 781 789 1898 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Xen Master http://www.i18nGuy.com XenCraft http://www.XenCraft.com Making e-Business Work Around the World -------------------------------------------------------------
