Languages Around the World/LanguageWorld.iso/language/japanese/2shin/2shin.doc

Text File | 1992-01-01 | 7KB | 140 lines

              2SHIN, VERSION 1.0

WHY 2SHIN WAS CREATED:

     7-bit communication sometimes is used for transmitting Japanese language
messages, although 8-bit is now most common.  BBSs like the GEnie (tm) Japan
Roundtable (Catagory 12) contain messages in 7-bit Shin-JIS.  However, 8-bit
Shift-JIS is the standard code type used by MS-DOS computers in Japan.  8-bit
Shift-JIS is also the text type used by DOS/V, the Japanese DOS version that
runs on normal IBM-ATs.  Most PC-based Japanese word processors can create
8-bit Shift-JIS files, although some don't create 7-bit Shin-JIS.  So
software is sometimes needed to convert such WP files into a format that can
be uploaded to Japanese BBSs that use 7-bit communication.   2SHIN is
copyrighted (c) software, 1992, by Steven W. Johnston, all rights reserved.
You are granted a limited license to use 2SHIN, to make copies of 2SHIN, and
to distribute 2SHIN electronically subject to the following conditions:

 (1) 2SHIN may not be distributed in modified form or together with
   any other software.  This document file must accompany 2SHIN.

 (2) No fee is to be charged for copying or using this software.

     2SHIN was written in C and compiled under Microsoft (tm) C, version 5.1.
It therefore contains portions of code copyrighted by Microsoft, used here
per the usual license agreement.  2SHIN will run on any computer using
MS-DOS, version 2.0 and above.

 WHAT 2SHIN DOES:

     This program will convert an 8-bit SHIFT-JIS Japanese language message
into a 7-bit Shin JIS Japanese language message that can be used for 7-bit
electronic communication.  Also since these JIS codes are supersets of normal
7-bit ASCII, normal 7-bit ASCII within the message will remain intact in the
output.

 HOW TO USE 2SHIN:

     Create the message that you are interested in sending with your Japanese
WP, and save the file to disk as SHIFT-JIS.  Test that the file is indeed
SHIFT-JIS by viewing it with KanjiView 3.0 under English-mode DOS, or with
the dos TYPE command under Japanese DOS.  Upload your message as binary or
ASCII.  This is may require you to experiment with your communication
software\host system.   I recommend that you use a TTY emulation, rather than
ANSII or VT100, etc. terminal, since a TTY emulation is most likely to leave
the ESC untouched.  Almost any communication program should support TTY
emulation.  Next, convert the message file that you saved to disk with 2SHIN
by typing:

       2SHIN <filename 1> <filename 2> (CR)

     Here, <filename 1> is the name of the 8-bit format file to be converted
and <filename 2> is the name of the new 7-bit format Shin-JIS file that will
be created.  These file names may include paths.  2SHIN will convert files of
any length, provided that there is sufficient disk space for the new Shin-JIS
file.  Shin-JIS files are always somewhat larger than their 8-bit equivalents
because Shin-JIS uses escape code sequences.

 HOW 2SHIN WORKS:

     There are several JIS (Japan Industrial Standard) code schemes that are
in common use in the world of electronic communications.  Since the font used
to display Japanese is so large, 2-byte codes are used to represent the
Zenkaku characters.  All JIS codes are supersets of the standard ASCII
(Amercian Standard Code for Information Interchange) 7-bit characters.  This
means that strings of ASCII text are often within a JIS electronic message.
JIS code methods may be classified as either 8-bit or 7-bit.  For MS-DOS
personal computers the only important 8-bit code type is Shift-JIS, sometimes
called MS-JIS since it is used within MS-DOS PCs.  Since much electronic
communication still uses only 7 data bits, methods have been developed to
send JIS codes without the 8th bit.  These 7-bit codes require Zenkaku-IN and
Zenkaku-OUT escape codes sequences. These codes sequences indicate whether
the following bytes are normal 7-bit ASCII or Zenkaku byte pairs.  7-bit
escape code sequences consist of the ESC character (Hex 1B) followed by
either one or two special ASCII characters.  The most common modern 7-bit
format is Shin-JIS. 2SHIN converts the Shift-JIS file into that form.

         Zenkaku-IN             Zenkaku-OUT

        " ESC $ B "             " ESC ( J "

 (FLEFO option) " ~ y "                 " ~ z "

     The FLEFO Zenkaku-IN and Zenkaku-OUT escape code sequences are a special
option.  This is used to create messages for the FLEFO (Foreign Language
Education Forum in the Compuserve Information Service) from 8-bit Shift-JIS.
To create messages that contain FLEFO-JIS you must type the switch " /f "
after <filename 2> on the command line. FLEFO-JIS is a special non-standard
JIS form that was created to allow Japanese communication within the
Compuserve message areas where the ESC character is not allowed.  The use of
FLEFO-JIS on Compuserve will probably be temporary since Compuserve is
expected someday to revise their software to allow non-English communication
in the message areas and text files, by allowing 8-bit communication.

 TECHNICAL VOCABULARY:

     7-bit Character - This is any character less than Hex 80.  This document
is written entirely in such 7-bit ASCII characters.

     8-bit Character - This is any character greater than Hex 7F.  On the
IBM-PC's standard American font, these include the box-drawing characters and
several foreign-language characters.  On Japanese PCs and on the IBM-AT
running IBM JDOS4.0V, 8-bit characters display as Zenkaku and Katakana
Hankaku.

     ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange.  Only the
7-bit characters are standard.

     FLEFO-JIS -  Unfortunately, Compuserve's software does not allow either
the ESC character or 8-bit JIS to be used within text files or forum message
areas.  So members of the FLEFO (Foreign Language Education Forum) have
patched together this non-standard JIS method.  Although the escape sequences
contain no low ASCII control characters, escape sequences were chosen that
will never occur within 7-bit JIS Suijun 1 or 2.  This allows the use of a
form of 7-bit JIS even on a BBS that strips control characters, such as ESC.
2SHIN supports FLEFO-JIS conversion only when you use the /f switch on the
command line.

     Hankaku -  These are Japanese and English characters that consist of
only one byte.  On a typical PC display screen, 80 Hankaku characters fit
across one line.  7-bit ASCII characters are examples of Hankaku characters.

     JIS - Japanese Industrial Standard, as listed in the Japanese Industrial
Standard Handbooks which are available in major Japanese language bookstores.
Shift-JIS - This is the JIS code scheme used by MS-DOS computers.  It is the
most widely used method for electronically sending Japanese text.  Certain
8-bit characters are used to indicate a Zenkaku byte pair.  Other 8-bit
characters are used to display Hankaku Katakana.

     Shin-JIS - This is the modern JIS 7-bit code.  It requires ESC code
sequences in order to show that the following characters are Zenkaku or
Hankaku.

     Zenkaku -  These are JIS characters that consist of two bytes.  On a
typical PC display screen, 40 Zenkaku characters fit across one line.  Kanji
and Hiragana are all displayed as Zenkaku.

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