This archive contains answers to questions sent to Unidata support through mid-2025. Note that the archive is no longer being updated. We provide the archive for reference; many of the answers presented here remain technically correct, even if somewhat outdated. For the most up-to-date information on the use of NSF Unidata software and data services, please consult the Software Documentation first.
> Dear Ed, > > I am one person pushing for Unicode support. It certainly annoys me > that I cannot type my colleagues' addresses, or even names, correctly > in a wide range of software. E.g. Mto-France and Espaa, never mind the > guys in Russia or China. > > At least now on the standard desktops (Linux, Windows, Mac) and > applications (Email, browsers, word processors, PowerPoint, etc) and > even mobile phones, internationalisation has happened, though in my > experience, database support for internationalisation is patchy. > > I am aware of the difficulties in handling code pages, national > character sets, encodings, etc, and long ago came to the conclusion > that the only sustainable solutions were either "ASCII" or Unicode > (whether UTF-8 or UCS-2, etc). Anything in-between is piecemeal and > problematic. > > My concern over the current developments of HDF and NetCDF is that > proper internationalisation could end up being postponed for several > years, even though the formats are widely used for international data > exchange. > > Consequently, I asked, if Unicode could not be fully supported, at > least the design decisions envisage it would be added eventually, and > no unnecessary barriers would be inadvertently constructed. Hopefully, > any areas where the "1 character = 8 bits" assumptions are made would > be ring-fenced or labelled. > > HTH, Chris > > Chris Little IT Customer Service & Performance Manager > Met Office FitzRoy Road Exeter Devon EX1 3PB United Kingdom > Tel: +44(0)1392 886278 Fax: +44(0)870 900 5050 Mobile: +44(0)7753 880514 > E-mail: address@hidden http://www.metoffice.gov.uk > Hello Chris, I've passed your email on to those who make the feature prioritization decisions for netcdf. Thanks, Ed -- Ed Hartnett -- address@hidden