Re: How about a typology for input methods

--- Peter Constable <petercon@...> wrote: >

> From: Andrew Dunbar [mailto:hippietrail@...]
> > Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2004 11:37 PM
>
>
> > I can envisage two types of IMEs for Tamil based
> > on what I've been reading here.
> >
> > 1) Thai-style which takes maps a character to a
> > key, and just rearranges character sequences when
> > the user types vowels in the wrong order, and
> > prevents invalid sequences. But does not offer a
> > conversion list.
>
> That is simply a complex input method; it is not an
> IME.

I had not been aware until this moment that the terms
"input method" and "IME" were not synonymous. Where
can
I read more about the differences?

> And, btw, conversion lists (better known, I believe,
> as candidate lists) are not a necessary part of IMEs
> (but are sufficient to characterize an input method
> as an IME).
>
> > Number 1 exists for Thai but doesn't ship with
> > Windows because most people don't seem to need it.
> > The programmer needs to know what rearranging
> > needs to happen in *all* cases, and what
> > combinations are and are not legal combinations.
>
> I've never heard of a Thai input method that
> re-orders characters during input.

I'm sure I found one written in Java on the internet a
couple of years ago. You might consider it merely a
prototype input method or something else since it
didn't integrate at the OS level.

I'll see if I can find it again.

Andrew Dunbar.

> Peter Constable
>

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