Input method editor
|
An IME for inputting Japanese characters in Mac OS 9 |
An
input method editor (
IME) is a program or
operating system component that allows computer users to enter complex characters and symbols (such as
Chinese,
Japanese,
Korean and
Tibetan characters), using a standard Western keyboard. It is also often called
input method environment.
The term IME originated in the
Microsoft Windows operating system. Other operating systems may have a different name for the same idea, for example:
*in
Mac OS, it is called an
input method (or more precisely,
Kotoeri input method);
*in
MS-DOS, it is called an
input method (Chinese) or an
FEP (Japanese);
*in the
X Window System, it is generally called an
input method (and the specific built-in implementation of X11's input method support is called
XIM, short for
X input method; however, support for input methods are also provided by
input method modules in various other parts of the system including
GTK+ and
Qt).
Although originally coined for
CJK computing, the term is now sometimes used generically to refer to a program to support the input of any language. To illustrate, in the X Window System, the facility to allow the input of
Latin characters with
diacritics is also called an input method.
|
Another IME for inputting Japanese characters, this time in Mac OS X |
While the term
input method editor was originally used only by Microsoft Windows, its use has now gained acceptance in other operating systems, especially when it is important to distinguish between the input method itself, the editing functionality of the program or operating system component providing the input method, and the general support of input methods in an operating system. This term has, for example, gained general acceptance on the
GNU/Linux operating system; it is also used on the Mac OS.
*The term
input method generally refers to a particular way to use the keyboard to input a particular language, for example the
Cangjie method, the
pinyin method, or the use of
dead keys.
*On the other hand, the term
input method editor generally refers to the actual program that allows an input method to be used (for example MS New Pinyin,
PRIME, or
SCIM), or the actual editing area that allows the user to do the input.
*
Chinese input methods for computers*
Japanese language and computers*
Korean language and computers*
List of input methods for UNIX platforms*
Keyboard layout*
Alt codes*
A Microsoft article about IME*An
installation guide (
Windows XP)
*An
IME Tutorial*A place from where Indian script input method editors can be downloaded [
1]
