std.locale

[Michel Fortin]

On 2009-03-02 16:42:37 -0500, Andrei Alexandrescu 
<SeeWebsiteForEmail at erdani.org> said:

> I want to put together a string-based hierarchical string table that 
> allows depositing ALL OF THE ABOVE in it, without initially putting 
> ANYTHING in it. What's nice is that others have already defined the 
> keys and the possible values used by that table.
> 
> Possibly you are missing one or more of the following points:
> 
> 1) The existence of a hierarchical nomenclature for localization;
> 
> 2) The existence of a large database containing localized values for 
> said nomenclature;
> 
> 2) The power of Algebraic, which allows depositing data, functions, and 
> subtables alike in a uniform format.

What I'm missing is a justification as of why you need all this data in 
a common deposit in the first place. How do you justify the need for 
that? Which function needs this data and why using an Algebraic makes 
it better than other approaches.

As for the large database, I have nothing with using an existing large 
database, but I'd rather see my app use whatever is part of the 
underlying OS first, then rely on an external database if that is 
insuficient.

Your approach seems to be this: Unicode defines a huge database 
containing all kinds of locale information, let's expose that, allow 
other people to plug their own data inside, and use that as the 
standard format for passing locale data to various functions.

I only oppose the last part -- the "use that as the standard format for 
passing locale data to various functions" part. That you're using 
Algebraic does not change that various functions will search data at 
some places in the structure. If the data isn't there, because you want 
to some other formatting system, you'll get wrong results.

Perhaps you should explain more how you see this used in the context 
where we want to localize some data, how we can use it to define our 
own data, etc. Because this dicussion is lost in generalities and vague 
ideas right now.


-- 
Michel Fortin
michel.fortin at michelf.com
http://michelf.com/