Ucode

Short:        A Unicode implementation for the Amiga
Author:       shillito@tpg.com.au (Ken Shillito)
Uploader:     shillito tpg com au (Ken Shillito)
Type:         text/show
Architecture: m68k-amigaos

Ucode implements the Unicode standard for the Amiga. It is freeware, and all
the software and glyphs can be used in Amiga applications free of charge.

(Unicode is a system for writing all the world's languages, and is required
for full implemenation of HTML4, CSS2 and JAVA. It will eventually replace
all other text encoding methods)

Ucode consists of the following:

  - a minimal set of a couple of thousand glyphs

  - ucode.guide   very complete documentation

  - a library   ucode.library

  - a program   GlyphViewer    for viewing Unicode glyphs
  - a program   FontMaker      for making any selected set of Unicode glyphs
                               into an Amiga font
  - a program   GlyphEditor    for editing Unicode glyphs
  - a program   UcodeSlave     which accepts many ARexx commands for
                               using ucode.library's capabilities

  - some demonstration assembler programs 
  - lots of sample ARexx scripts

ucode.library puts Unicode onto windows. Here is what ucode.library can do

  - it lets you put characters of mixed sizes and styles into a line.

  - all the text attributes required for HTML4/CSS2 are implemented.

  - the complete range of many diacritical marks can be added to characters.

  - text formats itself into lines, and scrolls itself as required.

  - text can be copied to the clip board and pasted.

  - text can be saved as self-contained objects which can format themselves
    and print themselves on Amigas which don't have Ucode installed.

  - the full Unicode bidirectionality algorithm is implemented.

  - character shaping (e.g. of Arabic and Indian alphabets) takes place
    automatically.

  - ucode.library understands the UTF8 and UTF16 methods of transmitting
    text. It also understands all the heritage methods such as Latin-1,
    Latin-2, Shift-JIS, Big5, and many others. It accepts input in
    any of these formats. ucode.library also understands all the HTML4 ways
    of showing characters like  “  “  and the like.

  - ucode.library lets you have commonly used glyphs in memory for
    maximum speed while having surprisingly fast access to less used glyphs
    direct from disk.

  - (ucode.library has to use its own method of storing glyphs, because
    Amiga outline fonts are too slow and memory hungry to use for Unicode).
    ucode.library can algorithmically resize characters about 100 times
    faster than Amiga outline fonts. ucode.library's algorithms for glyph
    resizing are much better than graphics.library's algorithms, and of
    comparable quality to outline fonts over small ranges (not big ranges).

  - ucode.library can grab glyphs "on the fly" from any Amiga font, so it
    is not limited to its built-in glyphs

  - routines to facilitate the use of Locale catalogs

Ordinary amigas can thus display text from all the world's writing systems
in a way that is practical and does not overtax system resources¸ and is
reasonably easy to program.

Ucode comes with a small set of only a couple of thousand glyphs, however
I will put "Ucode Glyph Packs" on the Aminet to rapidly expand the glyphs
available. I already have a virtually complete set of glyphs for Unicode
values 0000 - FFFF in various sizes.

Ucode is a step towards a full HTML4 and CSS2 (style sheet) implementation
for the Amiga. Increasingly text on the web and elsewhere will be ported in
Unicode UTF8 form. My Unicode implementation makes all this available to the
Amiga.


Coming right away
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 - The first "Ucode glyph packs" to supplement the minimal number of glyphs
   included with this distribution


Coming very soon  (already written and being debugged)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 - A unicode-capable AmigaGuide viewer
 - A unicode-cabable Text Editor
 - Extensions to the abilities of ucode.library
 - More Ucode Glyph Packs