What is ISO-IEC 10646:2017?

The ISO/IEC 10646:2017, also known as Unicode, is an international standard for character encoding. It provides a unique numerical value (code point) to every character used in written languages worldwide, including those used in historical scripts and symbols.

Evolution of ISO-IEC 10646

The development of ISO/IEC 10646 began in the late 1980s as a joint effort between the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The goal was to create a universal character encoding scheme that could accommodate any writing system and facilitate multilingual communication.

Key Features and Benefits

ISO/IEC 10646 provides several key features and benefits:

Unification: With ISO/IEC 10646, characters from different scripts and languages are unified under a single encoding standard, eliminating the need for multiple character sets.

Compatibility: ISO/IEC 10646 is designed to be compatible with other widely used character encoding standards, such as ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) and Latin-1.

Extensibility: The standard allows for future expansion by defining reserved code points and provisions for encoding new characters as needed.

Global Interoperability: With ISO/IEC 10646, data encoded in one system can be reliably transferred and displayed on another system, regardless of language or script.

Adoption and Usage

ISO/IEC 10646 has gained widespread adoption in various industries and applications. It is commonly used in operating systems, programming languages, web standards, and internationalization efforts. The Unicode Consortium, a non-profit organization, oversees the ongoing development and maintenance of Unicode to ensure its continued relevance and compatibility.

Conclusion

ISO/IEC 10646 (Unicode) is a fundamental standard for character encoding that enables global communication by providing a unified representation for all scripts and symbols used in written languages. Its adoption and usage have greatly simplified internationalization efforts and facilitated interoperability across different systems. As technology continues to advance, ISO/IEC 10646 will play a crucial role in enabling universal connectivity and understanding.