[GRASS5] another approach to i18n for tcltkgrass; former one revoked

[Glynn Clements]

Alex Shevlakov wrote:

> >  > Also, the generation of the translated scripts
> > needs to be automatic. 
> 
> It can be made automatic, if a complicated software
> like "Socratus Pro Win" was used. Although I'm really
> not sure the quality of translation would be normal,
> and I doubt people would like it. Perhaps you know a
> better translation program (and free software).

I wasn't talking about translating the natural language strings
automatically. I was referring to keeping the translation information
separate from the code (as Russell mentioned). E.g. rather than
modifying the Tcl files directly, creating a sed script (analogous to
a message catalogue) which would translate the Tcl files.

> >  > If a developer makes any changes to tcltkgrass,
> > they shouldn't have to
> >  > change multiple versions.
> > 
> > Yeah, the whole idea behind i18n is to separate out
> > the code from
> > the messages.  That way, the programmers can change
> > the code in
> > magical and mysterious ways without needing to
> > interact with
> > translators in any way.
> 
> If a developer changes code, she does not need to
> contact translators.
> It's generally translators mess to follow the code
> changes. This is what I think NLS maintenance is.

The way that the C code is internationalised, changes to code (as
opposed to message strings) don't require any effort from the L10N
maintainers.

Also, there's still the issue of selecting the locale at run-time,
rather than compile time. This shouldn't be much work, and shouldn't
result in any significant performance penalty.

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn.clements at virgin.net>