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Filename : Codes.pod
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=pod

=head1 NAME

Locale::Codes - a distribution of modules to handle locale codes

=head1 DESCRIPTION

B<Locale-Codes> is a distribution containing a set of modules.  The
modules each deal with different types of codes which identify parts
of the locale including languages, countries, currency, etc.

Currently, the following modules are included:

=over 4

=item B<Locale::Codes::Country, Locale::Country>

This includes support for country codes (such as those listed in ISO-3166)
to specify the country.

Because this module was originally distributed as Locale::Country, it is
also available under that name.

=item B<Locale::Codes::Language, Locale::Language>

This includes support for language codes (such as those listed in ISO-639)
to specify the language.

Because this module was originally distributed as Locale::Language, it is
also available under that name.

=item B<Locale::Codes::Currency, Locale::Currency>

This includes support for currency codes (such as those listed in ISO-4217)
to specify the currency.

Because this module was originally distributed as Locale::Currency, it is
also available under that name.

=item B<Locale::Codes::Script, Locale::Script>

This includes support for script codes (such as those listed in ISO-15924)
to specify the script.

Because this module was originally distributed as Locale::Script, it is
also available under that name.

=item B<Locale::Codes::LangExt>

This includes support for language extension codes (such as those listed
in the IANA language registry) to specify the language extension.

=item B<Locale::Codes::LangVar>

This includes support for language variation codes (such as those listed
in the IANA language registry) to specify the language variation.

=item B<Locale::Codes::LangFam>

This includes support for language family codes (such as those listed
in ISO 639-5) to specify families of languages.

=back

Each module can support an arbitrary number of code sets, and it it
not required that the relationship between these code sets be
one-to-one.  For example, the Locale::Codes::Country module supports
code sets from ISO-3166 and the FIPS 10 standard, and they do not
break the world down into exactly the same sets of countries. This
does not cause any problem (though converting codes from ISO-3166 to
FIPS or back will not work except for countries that are one-to-one).

All data in all of these modules comes directly from the original
standards (or as close to direct as possible), so it should be
up-to-date at the time of release.

I plan on releasing a new version several times a year to incorporate
any changes made in the standards. However, I don't always know about
changes that occur, so if any of the standards change, and you want a
new release sooner, just email me and I'll get one out.

In addition to the modules above, there are a number of support modules included
in the distribution including:

=over 4

=item B<Locale::Codes>

=item B<Locale::Codes::Constants>

=item B<Locale::Codes::Country_codes>

=item B<Locale::Codes::Language_codes>

=item B<Locale::Codes::Currency_codes>

=item B<Locale::Codes::Script_codes>

=item B<Locale::Codes::LangExt_codes>

=item B<Locale::Codes::LangVar_codes>

=item B<Locale::Codes::LangFam_codes>

=back

These modules are not intended to be used by programmers. They contain functions
or data that are used by the modules listed above.

=head1 NEW CODE SETS

I'm always open to suggestions for new code sets.

In order for me to add a code set, I want the following criteria
to be met:

=over 4

=item B<General-use code set>

If a code set is not general use, I'm not likely to spend the time
to add and support it.

=item B<An official source of data>

I require an official (or at least, a NEARLY official) source where I
can get the data on a regular basis.

Ideally, I'd only get data from an official source, but sometimes that
is not possible. For example the ISO standards are not typically
available for free, so I may have to get some of that data from
alternate sources that I'm confident are getting their data from the
official source.  However, I will always be hesitant to accept a
non-official source.

As an example, I used to get some country data from the CIA World
Factbook. Given the nature of the source, I'm sure they're updating
data from the official sources and I consider it "nearly" official.
However, even in this case, I found that they were adding codes that
were not part of the standard, so I have stopped using them as a
source.

There are many 3rd party sites which maintain lists (many of which are
actually in a more convenient form than the official sites).
Unfortunately, I will reject most of them since I have no feel for how
"official" they are.

=item B<A free source of the data>

Obviously, the data must be free-of-charge. I'm not interested in
paying for the data (and I'm not interested in the overhead of having
someone else pay for the data for me).

=item B<A reliable source of data>

The source of data must come from a source that I can reasonably expect
to exist for the foreseeable future since I will be extremely reluctant
to drop support for a data set once it's included.

I am also reluctant to accept data sent to me by an individual.
Although I appreciate the offer, it is simply not practical to consider
an individual contribution as a reliable source of data. The source
should be an official agency of some sort.

=back

These requirements are open to discussion. If you have a code set
you'd like to see added, but which may not meet all of the above
requirements, feel free to email me and we'll discuss it.  Depending
on circumstances, I may be willing to waive some of these criteria.

=head1 COMMON ALIASES

As of version 2.00, the modules supported common variants of names.

For example, Locale::Country supports variant names for countries, and
a few of the most common ones are included in the data. The country
code for "United States" is "us", so:

   country2code('United States');
      => "us"

Now the following will also return 'us':

   country2code('United States of America');
   country2code('USA');

Any number of common aliases may be included in the data, in addition
to the names that come directly from the standards.  If you have a
common alias for a country, language, or any other of the types of
codes, let me know and I'll add it, with some restrictions.

For example, the country name "North Korea" never appeared in any of
the official sources (instead, it was "Korea, North" or "Korea,
Democratic People's Republic of". I would honor a request to add an
alias "North Korea" since that's a very common way to specify the
country (please don't request this... I've already added it).

On the other hand, a request to add Zaire as an alias for "Congo, The
Democratic Republic of" will not be honored. The country's official
name is no longer Zaire, so adding it as an alias violates the standard.
Zaire was kept as an alias in versions prior to 3.00, but it has been
removed. Other aliases (if any) which no longer appear in any standard
(and which are not common variations of the name in the standards)
have also been removed.

=head1 DEPRECATED CODES

Occasionally, a code is deprecated, but it may still be desirable to
have access to it.

Although there is no way to see every code that has ever existed and
been deprecated (since most codesets do not have that information
available), as of version 3.20, every code which has ever been included
in these modules can be referenced.

For more information, refer to the documentation on the code2XXX, XXX2code,
all_XXX_codes, and all_XXX_names function in the B<Locale::Codes::API>
documentation.

=head1 SEE ALSO

=over 4

=item B<Locale::Codes::API>

The list of functions available in each of the modules listed below.
The APIs for each module are exactly identical.

=item B<Locale::Codes::Country>

Codes for identification of countries.

=item B<Locale::Codes::Language>

Codes for identification of languages.

=item B<Locale::Codes::Script>

Codes for identification of scripts.

=item B<Locale::Codes::Currency>

Codes for identification of currencies and funds.

=item B<Locale::Codes::Changes>

A history of changes made to this distribution.

=back

=head1 AUTHOR

Locale::Country and Locale::Language were originally written by Neil
Bowers at the Canon Research Centre Europe (CRE). They maintained the
distribution from 1997 to 2001.

Locale::Currency was originally written by Michael Hennecke and was
modified by Neil Bowers for inclusion in the distribution.

From 2001 to 2004, maintenance was continued by Neil Bowers.  He
modified Locale::Currency for inclusion in the distribution. He also
added Locale::Constants and Locale::Script.

From 2004-2009, the module was unmaintained.

In 2010, maintenance was taken over by Sullivan Beck (sbeck@cpan.org)
with Neil Bower's permission.  All problems or comments should be
sent there.  Alternately, problems can be reported using the
perl problem tracker at:

   https://rt.cpan.org/Dist/Display.html?Queue=Locale-Codes

=head1 COPYRIGHT

   Copyright (c) 1997-2001 Canon Research Centre Europe (CRE).
   Copyright (c) 2001      Michael Hennecke (Locale::Currency)
   Copyright (c) 2001-2010 Neil Bowers
   Copyright (c) 2010-2012 Sullivan Beck

This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

=cut