> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dimitry Sibiryakov [mailto:SD@...]
> Sent: Sunday, August 24, 2003 11:57 PM
> To: Firebird-Architect@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: RE: [Firebird-Architect] Re: UTF-8 vs UTF-16
>
> The only language-aware variable thing that left on server is
> sorting. I don't know such languages as French and Spanish and can't
> tell if the same characters can take different positions in sorting
> order. Probably even sorting can be done according to one char-
> position table.
>
>

sorting is locale specific, there is no universal sort order
that is appropriate for all languages.
example: n+tilde (n) is treated as a unique character
between n and o for spanish,
Most other languages would expect to find it
with the n's

example: A is treated in Danish and Swedish as a unique
character, sorted after Z. English doesn't
use the character, as a normal occurance, but
if it existed in a printout, I would expect
to find it with the A's, not after the Z's

Other language aware operations:

Upper() --> upper(a) is A for French
but is A for French Canadian, and
most other countries. (ditto for
most other accented characters).

--> upper(?) should be "SS" for German,
but noone implements this (in the
computer world <grin>

Dave