Written in a concise, easy-to-read style, this handbook shows how to modify computer systems to meet the needs of international users. It takes readers on a tour of the many linguistic and cultural conventions used throughout the world, discussing how to break old programming habits in order to design with the flexibility needed to handle a variety of differing user needs.

Through the use of extensive examples and tables, Programming for the World describes the myriad of linguistic and cultural conventions, used throughout the world, that affect software. Often, programmers write software that works for their own culture, but not for others. This book helps readers learn how to write internationalized software that can work in many languages and cultures. The reader will discover new concepts that have been added to programming languages, international standards, industry specifications, operating systems, and windowing environments to enable software to handle worldwide requirements. Among the standards or specifications covered with respect to internationalization capabilities are ISO C, POSIX, and the X/Open Portability Guide; learn how to write new programs or modify existing ones to use internationalized interfaces and techniques; understand the requirements that multilingual and distributed computing add to internationalized software; and understand the changes necessary in technical documentation to communicate the capabilities of internationalized software. This book will be a valuable addition to the reference library of any software engineer, development manager, or technical writer who is revising or creating programs for the world market.