Input method: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:47, 13 January 2006

Revision as of 02:32, 27 January 2006

Line 4:

*for [[Mac OS]], it is called an ''[[Macintosh Input Method|input method]]'';

*for [[MS-DOS]], it is called an ''input method'' (Chinese) or an ''[[FEP]]'' (Japanese);

*for the [[X Window System]], it is generally called an ''input method'' (and the specific built-in implementation of X11’s input method support is called ''XIM'', short for ''X input method''; however, support for input methods are also provided by ''input method modules'' in various other parts of the system including [[GIMP Toolkit|GTK+]] and [[Qt (toolkit)|Qt]]).

Although originally coined for [[CJK]] computing, the term is now sometimes used generically to refer to a program to support the input of any language. To illustrate, in the X Window System, the facility to allow the input of [[Latin character]]s with [[diacritics]] is also called an input method.

==Relationship between the input method and input method editor==

While the term ''input method editor'' was originally used only by Microsoft Windows, its use has now gained acceptance in other operating systems, especially when it is important to distinguish between the input method itself, the editing functionality of the program or operating system component providing the input method, and the general support of input methods in an operating system. This term has, for example, gained general acceptance on the [[Linux|GNU/Linux]] operating system; it is also used on the Mac OS.

*The term ''input method'' generally refers to a particular way to use the keyboard to input a particular language, for example the [[Cangjie method]], the [[pinyin method]], or the use of [[dead key]]s.

*On the other hand, the term ''input method editor'' generally refers to the actual program that allows an input method to be used (for example MS New Pinyin, [[PRIME]], or [[SCIM]]), or the actual editing area that allows the user to do the input.