Re: [idn] call for comments for REORDERING

[Kenneth Whistler <kenw@sybase.com>]

James Seng said:

> Third, I would really prefer to reference a work from established expert
> group if possible. For example, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG20 publishes ISO
> 14651 on weighted sorting. I am not sure how ISO 14651 would perform for
> the IDN purpose but I thought it might be worthwhile to examine.

As one of the principal authors of ISO 14651, who has also implemented
the synchronized Unicode Technical Standard #10, the Unicode Collation
Algorithm, I can attest that this is a very tricky and complicated
area, and the algorithms to do all this correctly are not the kind
you can write on the back of a cocktail napkin. It is very complex
to get all the details right and to get good-performing algorithms
(in speed and in resource usage). It is also very difficult for
independent implementations to get themselves all exactly lined
up, and even more difficult for independent implementations to *prove*
that they are getting the same results for all data (as opposed to
a particular result for one set of data -- which is pretty easy).

IDN doesn't need to add this kind of headache to the already
complex enough issues of nameprep.

> 
> Whatever the case, we should make a decision quickly on this. Lets not
> drag this further if possible.
> 
> -James Seng
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Martin Duerst" <duerst@w3.org>

> > So this is a solution in search of a real problem,
> > not worth bothering the whole world with additional
> > complexity.

I heartily concur with Martin's assessment.

--Ken Whistler