CJKV Information Processing: Chinese, Japanese, Korean & Vietnamese Computing

But CJKV Information Processing doesn't restrict itself to input and output issues. There's extensive coverage of the special issues that arise when you attempt to work with multibyte characters inside programs--especially Java programs, since that language is especially adroit at internationalization tasks. You'll find ready-to-use algorithms for detecting and converting characters among the various sets.

Almost half of the book is consumed by exhaustive character tables listing every CJKV character set ever defined by a standards body, software vendor, or other organization. Comprehensive is the operative word here--Lunde even gives space to 145 hanzi characters defined by Hong Kong's Department of the Judiciary. You'll find a full suite of keyboard mapping tables, too. With the same thoroughness and clarity that made his Understanding Japanese Information Processing such a hit among members of the Pacific Rim crowd, Ken Lunde provides an unparalleled guide to computing with the CJKV character sets. --David Wall

Product Description
CJKV Information Processing is the definitive guide for tackling the difficult issues faced when dealing with complex Asian languages -- Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese -- in the context of computing or Internet services. Of incalculable value for the developer, programmer, user, and researcher, it shows how these complex writing systems have been adapted for computer use and provides time-saving tips and techniques. This new book contains revised information from Ken Lunde's first book, Understanding Japanese Information Processing, and supplements each chapter with meticulous details about how the Chinese (hanzi), Japanese (kana and kanji), Korean (hangul and hanja), and Vietnamese (Quoc ngu, chu Nom, and chu Han) writing systems have been implemented on contemporary computer systems. It also covers how these writing systems impact contemporary Internet resources like the Web, HTML, XML, Java, and Adobe Acrobat.

Thank goodness he has. The author, Ken Lunde, has an encyclopedic knowledge of this material. In addition, he is one of those people to whom anything less than strict, literal correctness is intolerable. Authors of this sort usually write in a style reminiscent of the federal tax code. Lunde manages to avoid this, creating one of those rare and delightful computer books that serve as a lucid tutorial the first time through, and as a strict and comprehensive reference thereafter.

The principal reason I consider this book the bible for Asian language information processing is the extreme difficulty of getting most of this information via any other source. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to think of another computer book whose original source material is as scattered, poorly documented, and often unreliable as that Lunde had to gather to produce this book. His job of ferreting out the details, cross-checking, error correction, and organization into a single book makes this almost a work of journalism. If you do CJKV work, you'll need more than just this book, of course, but the book is full of references to other material, so this is the place to start.

Lunde also provides a lot of usable source code in the book. This is not unusual in a computer book, but this code is special in two ways. First, it's available in C, Java, and Perl, not just in C. This is refreshing, given the increasingly prominent roles played by Java and Perl on the Internet--the place where multilingual computing arguably matters most.

Second, his code serves as a great checklist for what has to be done by any similar code. This is one of those difficult types of programming where many bugs aren't easy to see, because of the large number of obscure "gotchas" and arcane details. Lunde doesn't miss much, and he revels in these arcane details. His code is not highly optimized, and he admits as much, but if his code does something, you need to do it, and if it doesn't, you (probably) don't need to, either. This fact alone justifies the cost of the book for any developer to whom bugs might have financial consequences.

If you're going to do CJKV work, this is the bible. As I said, it's not the only thing you'll need, but it's where you should start.


Must-have for CJKV developers   February 9, 1999
7 out of 8 found this review helpful

This is an outstanding guide for English-speaking developers who must target Asian languages. For those of us who do not read or speak these languages, it tackles some of the scariest issues: different types of characters, when they are used, how they relate to each other, and how they are encoded in software.

Lunde's explanation of the structure and history of Asian written languages is fascinating reading in its own right.

If developing on the Windows platform, I would also recommend "Developing International Software for Windows 95 and Windows NT" by Nadine Kano (Microsoft Press). Lunde's book contains crucial background information regarding Asian character sets, as well as some general algorithms; the Kano book focuses on implementation details specific to the Windows environment.


The bible for coding Asian languages   December 29, 2001
Mick McAllister [Lagniappes] (Colorado)
9 out of 11 found this review helpful

Lunde's book is essential to anyone in the software localization or internationalization business. It simply covers everything. Want to know how to do regular expressions in Japanese? Page 445. The actual definition of "Mincho" (as in the Mincho font)? Check the Glossary. Postscript clones that handle Chinese? page 391.

The book is intended primarily for software engineers, but the subject matter is treated so comprehensively that it is an essential desk reference for translators, information developers, project managers, production managers, and marketing executives.

Just get it, Ok?


Overwhelmingly (that's the right word) useful - buy it   January 3, 1999
5 out of 6 found this review helpful

I've been trying to educate myself on international processing issues for a while now (including Programming for the World : A Guide to Internationalization by Sandra Martin O'Donnell) and CJKV is by far and away the best book on the subject. Although this is not a beginner's book on internationalization (for example, it doesn't completely address cultural issues on internationalization - O'Donnell's book is better at this), Ken Lunde's book is the clear reference on internationalization, and belongs on anyone's bookshelf who is producing software for the global market (that should be anyone who writes software!). Do not assume that this is only a book for Asian computing. It's a book about many of the issues you will face in creating global software. This is a very detailed book which lives up to its promise of educating, and informing anyone involved in global computing.

Buy it - and thoroughly read it!

Like all O'Reilly books - this book is well-written, and easy to digest. Kudos to Mr. Lunde for a great book, and to Tim O'Reilly for recognizing this need.


Buy this if you write international software - it's that simple   June 30, 2005
Ste Cork
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

From this book I learnt (about 3 years ago) to add support for Japanese, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) and Korean to a number of top-selling PC Games (plus support utils). The tables within it *are* useful, despite what other reviews have said, as a way of testing your onscreen output. I also found the author to be very helpful when I emailed him with the odd query , and he was encouraging when I shared my findings on Thai (not covered by this book, but principles learnt from it enabled me to work it out) with him. One of the best reference books I've got.