Indic Computing
Encyclopedia
Indic Computing means "computing in Indic
" i.e. Indian Scripts and Languages. It involves developing software in Indic Scripts/languages, Input methods, Localization of computer applications, web development, Database Management, OCR, Spell-checkers, Speech to Text and Text to Speech applications etc. in Indian languages.
Most of the Indic scripts nowadays use Unicode
for working on Computers and Internet. In Unicode 5.0 following Indian Scripts have been encoded:
A lot of Indic Computing projects are going on. They involve some government sector companies, some volunteer groups and individual people.
In 2005, it started distributing language software tools developed by Government / Academic/Private companies in the form of CD for non commercial use.
based government software company which is involved in developing language related softwares. It is best known for developing InScript Keyboard, the standard keyboard for Indian languages. It has also developed lot of Indic language solutions including Word Processors, typing tools, text to speech software etc.
BharateeyaOO.org
The work developed out of CDAC, Bangalore (earlier known as NCST, Bangalore) became BharateeyaOO . OpenOffice 2.1 had support for over 10 Indian languages.
BOSS
BOSS is developed by National Resource Centre for free/open source software, an initiative of DIT. Its activities are coordinated by C-DAC Chennai and Anna University KBC Research Center. Support Centres are established at several cities in India to provide support to Users.
's first portal to host projects under Free/Open source licenses. It is located in Trivandrum, India
and hosted at Asianet data center. Sarovar.org is customised, installed and maintained by Linuxense as part of their community services and sponsored by River Valley Technologies. Sarovar.org is built on Debian Etch and GForge and runs off METTLE.
is working toward supporting Bengali language (Bangla) on GNU/Linux operating system including localized Bangla GUI, Live CD
, English-to-Bangla translator, Bangla OCR
and Bengali Dictionary etc.
inputting Indic text on computer has become very easy. A number of methods exist for this purpose, but the main ones are:-
is the standard keyboard for Indian languages. Developed by C-DAC and standardized by Government of India. Nowadays it comes inbuilt in all major operating systems including Microsoft Windows
(2000, XP, Vista, 7), Linux
and Macintosh
.
text using Roman
characters and it is phonetically converted to equivalent Devanagari
text in real time. This type of conversion is done by phonetic text editors, word processors and software plugins. Building up on the idea, one can use phonetic IME
tools that allow Indic text to be input in any application.
Some examples of phonetic transliterators are BarahaIME, Indic IME, Google Indic Transliteration
and Microsoft Indic Language Input Tool
.
They can be broadly classified as:
With the advent of Unicode
, the Remington layout was added to various typing tools for sake of backward compatibility, so that old typists did not have to learn a new keyboard layout. Nowadays this layout is only used by old typists who are used to this layout due to several years of usage. One tool to include Remington layout is Indic IME. Another online tool that very closely supports the old remington keyboard layout is Remington Typing tool
. 140 characters size used for English/Roman languages can be used to accommodate only about 70 language characters when Unicode Proprietary compression is used some times to increase the size of single message for Complex script languages like Hindi. A research study of the available methods and recommendations of proposed standard was released by Broadband Wireless Consortium of India (BWCI).
QuillPad
IndiSMS
for rendering is not widely available.
operating system
into Indian languages. By the efforts of this group, Linux has been localized almost completely in Hindi and other Indian languages.
. It is part of Akshargram Network.
Brahmic family
The Brahmic or Indic scripts are a family of abugida writing systems. They are used throughout South Asia , Southeast Asia, and parts of Central and East Asia, and are descended from the Brāhmī script of the ancient Indian subcontinent...
" i.e. Indian Scripts and Languages. It involves developing software in Indic Scripts/languages, Input methods, Localization of computer applications, web development, Database Management, OCR, Spell-checkers, Speech to Text and Text to Speech applications etc. in Indian languages.
Most of the Indic scripts nowadays use Unicode
Indic Unicode
Indic Unicode refers to the sections of Unicode related to Indic scripts. As of Unicode version 6.0 the following Indic Scripts have been encoded:*Balinese *Batak *Baybayin...
for working on Computers and Internet. In Unicode 5.0 following Indian Scripts have been encoded:
- Bengali scriptBengali scriptThe Bengali alphabet is the writing system for the Bengali language. The script with variations is used for Assamese and is basis for Meitei, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Kokborok, Garo and Mundari alphabets. All these languages are spoken in the eastern region of South Asia. Historically, the script has...
- DevanagariDevanagariDevanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...
- GujaratiGujarati scriptThe Gujarati script , which like all Nāgarī writing systems is strictly speaking an abugida rather than an alphabet, is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages...
- Gurmukhi
- Kannada
- LimbuLimbu scriptThe Limbu script is used to write the Limbu language. The Limbu script is an abugida derived from the Tibetan script.-History:According to traditional histories, the Limbu script was first invented in the late 9th century by King Sirijonga Haang, then fell out of use, to be reintroduced in the 18th...
- Malayalam
- OriyaOriya languageOriya , officially Odia from November, 2011, is an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in the Indian states of Orissa and West Bengal...
- SinhalaSinhala alphabetThe Sinhala alphabet is an abugida used in Sri Lanka to write the official language Sinhala and also sometimes the liturgical languages Pali and Sanskrit...
- Syloti Nagri
- TamilTamil languageTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
- TeluguTelugu scriptTelugu script, an abugida from the Brahmic family of scripts, is used to write the Telugu language, a language found in the South-Central Indian state of Andhra Pradesh as well as several other neighboring states. The Telugu script is derived from the Bhattiprolu script...
A lot of Indic Computing projects are going on. They involve some government sector companies, some volunteer groups and individual people.
TDIL
The Department of Information Technology, India initiated the TDIL (Technology Development for Indian Languages) with the objective of developing Information Processing Tools and Techniques to facilitate human-machine interaction without language barrier; creating and accessing multilingual knowledge resources; and integrating them to develop innovative user products and services.In 2005, it started distributing language software tools developed by Government / Academic/Private companies in the form of CD for non commercial use.
C-DAC
C-DAC is an IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
based government software company which is involved in developing language related softwares. It is best known for developing InScript Keyboard, the standard keyboard for Indian languages. It has also developed lot of Indic language solutions including Word Processors, typing tools, text to speech software etc.
BharateeyaOO.org
The work developed out of CDAC, Bangalore (earlier known as NCST, Bangalore) became BharateeyaOO . OpenOffice 2.1 had support for over 10 Indian languages.
BOSS
BOSS is developed by National Resource Centre for free/open source software, an initiative of DIT. Its activities are coordinated by C-DAC Chennai and Anna University KBC Research Center. Support Centres are established at several cities in India to provide support to Users.
Sarovar
Sarovar.org is IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
's first portal to host projects under Free/Open source licenses. It is located in Trivandrum, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and hosted at Asianet data center. Sarovar.org is customised, installed and maintained by Linuxense as part of their community services and sponsored by River Valley Technologies. Sarovar.org is built on Debian Etch and GForge and runs off METTLE.
Pinaak
Pinaak is a non-government charitable society devoted to Indic language computing. It works for software localization, developing language software, localizing open source software, enriching online encyclopedias etc. In addition to this Pinaak works for educating people about computing, ethical use of Internet and use of Indian languages on Internet.Ankur Group
Ankur GroupAnkur Group
Ankur is working toward supporting Bengali language on GNU/Linux operating system. Most of Ankur's projects are focused on XFree86.org's XServer...
is working toward supporting Bengali language (Bangla) on GNU/Linux operating system including localized Bangla GUI, Live CD
Live CD
A live CD, live DVD, or live disc is a CD or DVD containing a bootable computer operating system. Live CDs are unique in that they have the ability to run a complete, modern operating system on a computer lacking mutable secondary storage, such as a hard disk drive...
, English-to-Bangla translator, Bangla OCR
Optical character recognition
Optical character recognition, usually abbreviated to OCR, is the mechanical or electronic translation of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. It is widely used to convert books and documents into electronic files, to computerize a record-keeping...
and Bengali Dictionary etc.
Input methods with full size keyboards
With the advent of UnicodeUnicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
inputting Indic text on computer has become very easy. A number of methods exist for this purpose, but the main ones are:-
InScript
InscriptInScript
InScript is a software library providing an ECMAScript engine for ECMA-262 3ed, written in C++, and some Java classes for LiveConnect. It was used by the web browser iCab 2 and 3. ICab 4 uses the WebKit Web browser engine with the ECMAScript engine JavaScriptCore. It is proprietary software,...
is the standard keyboard for Indian languages. Developed by C-DAC and standardized by Government of India. Nowadays it comes inbuilt in all major operating systems including Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
(2000, XP, Vista, 7), Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
and Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
.
Phonetic transliteration
This is a typing method in which, for instance, the user types HindiHindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
text using Roman
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
characters and it is phonetically converted to equivalent Devanagari
Devanagari
Devanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...
text in real time. This type of conversion is done by phonetic text editors, word processors and software plugins. Building up on the idea, one can use phonetic IME
Input method editor
An input method is an operating system component or program that allows any data, such as keyboard strokes or mouse movements, to be received as input. In this way users can enter characters and symbols not found on their input devices...
tools that allow Indic text to be input in any application.
Some examples of phonetic transliterators are BarahaIME, Indic IME, Google Indic Transliteration
Google Indic Transliteration
Google transliteration is a transliteration typing service for Indian languages.This tool first appeared in Blogger, Google's popular blogging service. Later on it came into existence as a separate online tool. Keeping in view its popularity it was embedded in GMail and Orkut...
and Microsoft Indic Language Input Tool
Microsoft Indic Language Input Tool
Microsoft Indic Language Input Tool is a typing tool for Hindi and other Indic languages. It is a virtual keyboard which allows to type Indic language text directly in any application without hassle of copying and pasting. It is available for both, online and offline use...
.
They can be broadly classified as:
- Fixed transliteration scheme based tools - They work using a fixed transliteration scheme to convert text. Some examples are Indic IME and BarahaIME.
- Dictionary based tools - They compare the word with a dictionary and then convert it to the equivalent words in the target language. Some of the popular ones are Google Indic TransliterationGoogle Indic TransliterationGoogle transliteration is a transliteration typing service for Indian languages.This tool first appeared in Blogger, Google's popular blogging service. Later on it came into existence as a separate online tool. Keeping in view its popularity it was embedded in GMail and Orkut...
, Microsoft Indic Language Input ToolMicrosoft Indic Language Input ToolMicrosoft Indic Language Input Tool is a typing tool for Hindi and other Indic languages. It is a virtual keyboard which allows to type Indic language text directly in any application without hassle of copying and pasting. It is available for both, online and offline use...
and QuillPadQuillPadQuillPad is a transliteration technology to phonetically type Hindi and other Indic language text. This was the first typing tool with artificial intelligence to use dictionary based phonetic transliteration. Later on, Google and Microsoft came with such kind of typing tools. Quillpad uses machine...
.
Remington (typewriter)
This layout was developed when computers had not been invented or deployed with Indic languages, and typewriters were the only means to type text in Indic scripts. Since typewriters were mechanical and could not include a script processor engine, each character had to be placed on the keyboard separately, which resulted in a very complex and difficult to learn keyboard layout.With the advent of Unicode
Unicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
, the Remington layout was added to various typing tools for sake of backward compatibility, so that old typists did not have to learn a new keyboard layout. Nowadays this layout is only used by old typists who are used to this layout due to several years of usage. One tool to include Remington layout is Indic IME. Another online tool that very closely supports the old remington keyboard layout is Remington Typing tool
Input methods with Mobile phones with Numeric keyboards
Mobile/Hand/cell phone basic models have 12 keys like the plain old telephone keypad. Each key is mapped to 3 or 4 English letters to facilitate data entry in English. For using Indian languages with this kind of keypad, few software applications are available. The primary usage is SMSSMS
SMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :...
. 140 characters size used for English/Roman languages can be used to accommodate only about 70 language characters when Unicode Proprietary compression is used some times to increase the size of single message for Complex script languages like Hindi. A research study of the available methods and recommendations of proposed standard was released by Broadband Wireless Consortium of India (BWCI).
Transliteration/Phonetic methods
English is used to type in Indian languages.QuillPad
QuillPad
QuillPad is a transliteration technology to phonetically type Hindi and other Indic language text. This was the first typing tool with artificial intelligence to use dictionary based phonetic transliteration. Later on, Google and Microsoft came with such kind of typing tools. Quillpad uses machine...
IndiSMS
Native methods
In native methods, the letters of the language are displayed on the screen corresponding to the numeral keys based on the probabilities of those letters for that language. Additional letters can be accessed by using a special key. When a word is partially typed, options are presented from which the user can make a selection.Input methods with smart phones with Qwerty keyboards
Most smart phones have about 35 keys catering primarily to English language. Numerals and some symbols are accessed with a special key called Alt. Indic input methods are yet to evolve for these types of phones, as support of UnicodeUnicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
for rendering is not widely available.
Input methods for smart phones with Soft/Virtual keyboards
Inscript is being adopted for smart phone usage. For Android phones which can render Indic languages, Multiling Keyboard app and plugin for Hindi (includes support for other indic languages) are available.Localization
Localization means translating software, operating systems, websites etc various applications in Indian language. various volunteers groups are working in this direction.IndLinux
IndLinux is a volunteer group aiming to translate the LinuxLinux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
into Indian languages. By the efforts of this group, Linux has been localized almost completely in Hindi and other Indian languages.
Nipun
Nipun is an online translation system aimed to translate various application in HindiHindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
. It is part of Akshargram Network.
Indic blogging
Indic blogging refers to blogging in Indic languages. Various efforts have been done to promote blogging in Indian languages.Indic programming languages
- Programing using Hindi language Hindawi Programming SystemHindawi Programming System is a suite of open source programming languages. It allows non-English medium literates to learn and write computer programs...
- BangaBhasha