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   comp.lang.fortran      Putting John Backus on a giant pedestal      5,127 messages   

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   Message 5,038 of 5,127   
   Janis Papanagnou to Paavo Helde   
   Re: "Internationalis(z)ing Code - Comput   
   30 Jan 26 14:37:37   
   
   XPost: comp.lang.c, comp.lang.c++   
   From: janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com   
      
   On 2026-01-30 13:56, Paavo Helde wrote:   
   >   
   > Locales are only useful when displaying info directly for the user to   
   > view.   
      
   Right. And also for entering data through the UI.   
      
   > Alas, most C++ projects are not GUI, but much lower level libraries   
      
   Probably.   
      
   > where there is no connection between the current machine   
   > locale and the locale of the human viewer   
      
   Sensibly so.   
      
   The system wide setting can be a default (but need not be). Similar   
   with user specific locale settings.   
      
   > who might eventually view the produced data.   
      
   As you say initially, it's a feature for the UI. You should separate   
   the internal data model from the UI data representation level.   
      
   > Moreover, most produced text data is consumed by other   
   > software nowadays,   
      
   This may or may not be true. (But as argument it's anyway irrelevant.)   
      
   > not humans, and having to deal with varying locales   
   > just breaks or at least complicates the things here.   
      
   No. Nothing is broken if designed sensibly. If the software supports   
   internal communication interfaces these should be specified and used   
   on both communication sides as defined. If you use (or misuse) the   
   standard UI for tools' access the tools may and (if necessary) should   
   control the locale setting on that level to conform to the definition.   
      
   > So locale-dependent   
   > behavior should not be the default, but rather something to be ordered   
   > explicitly and used rarely.   
      
   Wrong conclusion based on wrong assumptions or wrong use (or design).   
      
   If your software doesn't support locales it's anyway pointless. And   
   if your software sensibly supports it you typically have control over   
   it. (Can't tell about Windows, the initially discussed platform, but   
   I'd doubt that it's broken by design; or is it?)   
      
   Janis   
      
   > [...]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)   

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