programming (i18n, globalisation, enabling, software
enabling) The process and philosophy of making software
and culturally neutral. Effective internationalisation
reduces the time and resources required for localisation,
improving time-to-market abroad and allowing
simultaneousshipment. In orther words, internationalisation abstracts
out local details, localisation specifies those details for a
particular locale.
currency formats, and other local format conventions.
application may be kept in a separate file or directory, so
that it can be translated all at once. User interfaces may
require more screen space for text in other languages.
The simplest form of internationalisation may be to make use
currency values according to the operating system's
configuration.
The abbreviation i18n means "I - eighteen letters - N".
(1999-06-28)