From: Rick McGowan (rick@unicode.org)
Date: Thu Mar 31 2005 - 12:21:51 CST
Version 4.1 of the Unicode® Standard Released
Mountain View, CA, March 31, 2005 - The Unicode® Consortium announced
today the release of the latest version of the Unicode Standard, Version
4.1.0. This version adds 1,273 new characters, including those necessary to
complete roundtrip mapping of the HKSCS and GB 18030 standards, five new
currency signs, some characters for Indic and Korean, and eight new
scripts. In addition, there have been a number of significant additions and
changes to the Unicode Character Database properties, which determine the
behavior of characters in modern software.
Unicode 4.1 adds two new Unicode Standard Annexes: UAX #31: Identifier and
Pattern Syntax and UAX #34: Unicode Named Character Sequences, and makes
significant changes to other Unicode Standard Annexes. UAX #31 is of
particular interest as a result of the broader incorporation of Unicode in
protocols and programming languages. Applications from programming
languages to international domain names require stable mechanisms for
distinguishing both identifiers and syntax characters, even as characters
for additional languages are added to the Unicode Standard.
The release of Unicode 4.1 will be soon followed by a new release of the
Unicode Collation Algorithm, for language-sensitive sorting, searching, and
matching; by Unicode Regular Expressions, setting the standard for
handling Unicode character in regular expressions; and by a new draft of
Unicode Security Considerations, for dealing with security issues posed by
the large number of visually-similar characters in Unicode.
For complete details on Unicode 4.1, see
http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode4.1.0/ . Those interested in the
latest developments in software globalization can attend the next Unicode
conference, April 6-8, 2005 in Berlin, Germany.
About the Unicode Standard
The Unicode Standard is a fundamental component of all modern software and
information technology protocols. It provides a uniform, universal
architecture and encoding for all languages of the world -- with over
96,000 characters currently encoded -- and is the basis for processing,
storage, and seamless data interchange of text data worldwide. Unicode is
required by modern standards such as XML, Java, C#, ECMAScript
(JavaScript), LDAP, CORBA 3.0, WML, IDN, etc., and is the official way to
implement ISO/IEC 10646.
About the Unicode Consortium
The Unicode Consortium is a non-profit organization founded to develop,
extend and promote software globalization. The membership of the consortium
represents a broad spectrum of corporations and organizations in the
computer and information processing industry. Full members (the highest
level) are: Adobe Systems, L'Agence intergouvernementale de la
Francophonie, Apple Computer, Government of India - Ministry of Information
Technology, Government of Pakistan - National Language Authority, HP, IBM,
Justsystem, Microsoft, Monotype Imaging, Oracle, RLG, SAP, Sun
Microsystems, and Sybase. In addition, there are about 100 Supporting,
Associate, Liaison, and Individual members.
For more information, please contact the Unicode Consortium
http://www.unicode.org
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