On Sun, 17 Mar 2024 at 16:47, Benjamin Kowarsch wrote:
Given the lack of UNICODE support in the language itself (especially
the lack of string literal support), a UNICODE library is of only
limited use. I am writing this for a specific purpose, and I am not
certain if it would be of general applicability.
It wouldn't be of general applicability in using Unicode within PIM/ISO Modula-2 source text itself, for that the dialects would need to support Unicode string literals. But it would certainly be of general applicability in using the library for developing Unicode supporting applications in PIM/ISO Modula-2.
Come to think of this, we don't actually need any support for Unicode string literals in the source code.
Instead, all localisable strings should be stored in a set of data files specific to each supported language. At application startup, the current locale setting should then determine which set of localisable data files will be read and the strings stored therein assigned to string variables which are then used for output. No need to embed any Unicode string literals in the code itself. It makes the code leaner and cleaner, and easier to maintain.
And those data files containing the localisable strings may well be in JSON format. Thus it would be all the more useful and desirable to have both a Unicode library and a JSON library, designed to work together. ;-)
regards
benjamin