From: FAQ server on
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FAQ Topic - Internationalisation and Localisation in javascript
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Internationalisation means using one form which is everywhere both
acceptable and understood. Any international standard not supported by
default can be coded for.

For example, there is an International Standard for numeric Gregorian
date format; but none for decimal and thousands separators.

Localisation is the process of adapting software for a specific region
or language by adding locale-specific components and translating text. It
cannot work well in general, because it requires a knowledge of all
preferences and the ability to choose the right one, in an environment
where many systems are inappropriately set anyway.

ECMAScript has a few localisation features. The various
` toString() ` methods are all implementation dependent,
but tend to use either UK or US settings (not necessarily correctly).
ECMAScript Ed. 3 introduced some capabilities, including the
` toLocaleString() `method which should create a string
based on the host's locale.

ECMAScript 5th Edition introduces limited ISO 8601 capabilities with
` Date.prototype.toISOString() ` and new behavior for ` Date.parse() `.


The complete comp.lang.javascript FAQ is at
http://jibbering.com/faq/

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