Computer World. Матросова Т.А. - 75 стр.

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characters require different methods for input, storage, and display, often including
modified or special keyboards, character codes, and display techniques. Collation is
complex, requiring different rules for different languages or sometimes even for the
same language; for example, a German telephone directory is collated slightly
differently from a German dictionary. Standard character codes do not correspond to
any of these collation rules. Some languages display special characters for certain
letter combinations, such as the use of a special character for the double «s» in
German. Because many computer languages use English words and characters,
countries with different alphabets (such as Greek and Cyrillic) must also use English
characters. (I use the term «English» to describe the alphabet in the ASCII character
set, without diacritical characters.)
Some Middle Eastern languages also require special treatment for input and dis-
play. Hebrew and Arabic, for example, are written from right to left, except for
numerics, which retain left-to-right place value notation. In addition, some Arabic
characters have different shapes depending on their position in a word.
Input methodologies. For the most part, the design of today’s computers, is
based on the English language, so it is natural that processing English text is easier
than processing text in other languages. In addition, the English character set is
simpler than that of most other languages except under special circumstances such as
representing foreign words, equations, or special fonts.
However, English input itself is hampered by the Qwerty keyboard. Despite its
inefficient layout and positioning of keys, the Qwerty keyboard has survived as the
principal means of input for English and other languages for over a century. A num-
ber of other devices have been proposed, the Dvorak keyboard being the best known.
The most promising recent design is the Maltron keyboard developed by Stephen
Hobday and Lillian Malt. This design overcomes most of the Qwerty keyboard’s
design flaws. It takes advantage of the dexterity of both thumbs by giving them
control of a number of images keys, including the letter «e», space, period, and enter.
The keys are separated into two pods, one for each hand, and placed in a concave
configuration that eliminates the need for users to move their hands to access all keys.
These last two features reduce two known causes of severe strain resulting from
Qwerty keyboard use. The keys are also repositioned to increase alternate hand
typing and to make greater use of the most dextrous fingers (giving a slight bias to
the right hand). This keyboard can increase the speed of any user, even professional
typists.
Input problems in other languages are considerably more complex. The fre-
quency of use of characters in foreign languages is different from that in English.
German, for example, makes little use of the letter «y» but frequent use of the letter –
«z» so those two letters are transposed on German typewriters.
Western European languages other than English generally use diacritical
characters. Letters such as á and ê in French, ü in German, require special treatment
for both input and display. It is technically possible but cumbersome to type the char-
acters just cited using ASCII characters and a Qwerty keyboard. As a result,

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