About These Demos

The emergence of the Internet and other distributed networks puts increasing importance on the ability to create global software--that is, software that can be developed independently of the countries or languages of intended users, and then localized for multiple countries or regions. Taligent has developed an integrated set of object-oriented frameworks that supports the creation of international software, providing a standard API that makes handling the requirements of different countries and languages transparent to developers. Using experience developed building C++ frameworks, Taligent has now redesigned its international frameworks in the Java(tm) programming language, which allows for a simpler API and implementation.

JavaSoft has recently agreed to integrate Taligent's international frameworks in future releases of the Java programming language. These frameworks are based on the Unicode 2.0* character set, the standard for international text, and provide a full architecture for developing localizable applications, including the ability to adapt text, numbers, dates, and currency to any country's conventional formats. Integrating these frameworks with Javasoft's technology will facilitate the creation of worldwide Internet applications.

Using These Demos

This site includes five demonstration applets based on Taligent's international Java classes. These applets provide localized data handling for the G7 countries (Canada [both French and English], France, Germany, Japan, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States). The choice of countries is for demonstration purposes only; the new release will contain a larger number.

Taligent has found that different versions of browsers vary considerably in how well (and how quickly) they handle Java applets. Taligent recommends the following versions for viewing the demonstrations, although others can be used (some of the demos do not run in Internet Explorer):

Netscape Navigator 3.0b6 on NT

Netscape Navigator 3.0b5 on the Macintosh
See the Netscape home page for information on Netscape products

HotJava 1.0 prebeta 1 browser
See the HotJava page for information on obtaining HotJava (This browser may not show tables correctly in the accompanying guide text.)

Caveats:

• These applets may run quite slowly in some browsers or over phone lines. The international Java classes used by these demonstration applets are designed to be used as part of a Java installation, not as a part of stand-alone applets.
• Sizes and positioning of buttons, menu, and so on differ greatly on different browsers and different platforms. The layout was designed to be flexible, but you may need to resize windows to see everything properly.
• This code is in its alpha phase, so expect some bugs! (Feedback is appreciatedùsend it to international@taligent.com )
• Java 1.0 does not support the full set of Unicode characters, so some characters do not display. On some systems, not even all Western European characters display.

Copyright © Taligent, Inc. 1996 All rights reserved.
Copyright © IBM Corp. 1996
Taligent and the Taligent logo are registered trademarks of Taligent, Inc.
Java and HotJava are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc., and refer to Sun's Java programming language and HotJava browser technologies.
Unicode is a trademark of Unicode, Inc.

Text and Layout: Mark Davis, Debbie Knoles, and Tom Affinito