"Understanding Japanese Information Processing" by Ken Lunde Published by O'Reilly and Associates, Inc. ISBN 1-56592-043-0 Publication date: September 1993 Pages: 470 Price: $29.95 About this Book: There are many complex issues surrounding the use of the Japanese language in computing. Unlike English, which has 26 letters in a single alphabet, Japanese has thousands of characters in four scripts. The issues around handling such an unwieldy collection of data are formidable and complex. Up to now, researching and understanding the relevant issues has been a difficult, if not unattainable task, especially to a person who doesn't read or speak Japanese. "Understanding Japanese Information Processing" is a book that provides detailed information on all aspects of handling Japanese text on computer systems. It brings all of the relevant information together in a single book. It covers everything from the origins of modern-day Japanese to the latest information on specific emerging computer encoding standards. Here is a sampling of the topics covered: - The Japanese writing system - Japanese character set standards - Japanese encoding methods - Japanese input - Japanese output - Japanese code conversion techniques - Japanese code and text processing tools - Japanese e-mail In addition, there are 15 appendixes which provide additional reference material, such as a code conversion table, character set tables, mapping tables, an extensive list of software sources, a glossary, and much more. Ken Lunde is the Project Manager for Japanese Font Production at Adobe Systems, Inc., a leading manufacturer of computer-based font technologies. The author also created and maintains an on-line document entitled JAPAN.INF, which has become an invaluable resource for people trying to understand the issues involved in dealing with Japanese text. The book expands on the topics covered in JAPAN.INF, and contains a rich complement of figures, tables, and lists unavailable in the on-line document. Both O'Reilly & Associates and the author are excited about the publication of this book because it fills a large void for information about the Japanese language for English-language readers. This book is able to both describe the Japanese language generally and cover very detailed specifics about implementing the language on computers. Even a person with only a casual interest in languages will find the book engaging. A programmer interested in writing a computer program which will handle the Japanese language will find the book indispensable. For more information on this book, contact: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. 103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA 95472 USA (800) 998-9938 (707) 829-0515 Fax: (707) 829-0104 UUCP: uunet!ora!nuts Internet: nuts@ora.com