<s>
International	B-Application
Components	I-Application
for	I-Application
Unicode	I-Application
(	O
ICU	O
)	O
is	O
an	O
open-source	B-Application
project	O
of	O
mature	O
C/C	O
++	O
and	O
Java	B-Language
libraries	B-Library
for	O
Unicode	O
support	O
,	O
software	O
internationalization	B-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
software	O
globalization	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
gives	O
applications	O
the	O
same	O
results	O
on	O
all	O
platforms	O
and	O
between	O
C	B-Language
,	O
C++	B-Language
,	O
and	O
Java	B-Language
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ICU	O
provides	O
the	O
following	O
services	O
:	O
Unicode	O
text	O
handling	O
,	O
full	O
character	O
properties	O
,	O
and	O
character	B-General_Concept
set	I-General_Concept
conversions	O
;	O
Unicode	O
regular	B-Language
expressions	I-Language
;	O
full	O
Unicode	O
sets	O
;	O
character	O
,	O
word	O
,	O
and	O
line	O
boundaries	O
;	O
language-sensitive	O
collation	O
and	O
searching	O
;	O
normalization	O
,	O
upper	O
and	O
lowercase	O
conversion	O
,	O
and	O
script	O
transliterations	O
;	O
comprehensive	O
locale	B-Device
data	O
and	O
resource	O
bundle	O
architecture	O
via	O
the	O
Common	O
Locale	B-Device
Data	O
Repository	O
(	O
CLDR	O
)	O
;	O
multiple	O
calendars	B-Application
and	O
time	B-Device
zones	I-Device
;	O
and	O
rule-based	O
formatting	O
and	O
parsing	O
of	O
dates	O
,	O
times	O
,	O
numbers	O
,	O
currencies	O
,	O
and	O
messages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ICU	O
provided	O
complex	O
text	O
layout	O
service	O
for	O
Arabic	O
,	O
Hebrew	O
,	O
Indic	O
,	O
and	O
Thai	O
historically	O
,	O
but	O
that	O
was	O
deprecated	O
in	O
version	O
54	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
completely	O
removed	O
in	O
version	O
58	O
in	O
favor	O
of	O
HarfBuzz	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
ICU	O
provides	O
more	O
extensive	O
internationalization	B-General_Concept
facilities	O
than	O
the	O
standard	O
libraries	B-Library
for	O
C	B-Language
and	O
C++	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
ICU	O
(	O
ICU4J	B-Application
)	O
now	O
requires	O
Java	B-Language
8	O
but	O
"	O
Most	O
of	O
the	O
ICU	O
72	O
library	O
code	O
should	O
still	O
work	O
with	O
Java	B-Language
7	O
/	O
Android	O
API	B-General_Concept
level	O
21	O
,	O
but	O
we	O
no	O
longer	O
test	O
with	O
Java	B-Language
7.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
phrase-based	O
line	O
breaking	O
for	O
Japanese	O
(	O
earlier	O
methods	O
did	O
n't	O
work	O
well	O
for	O
short	O
Japanese	O
text	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
in	O
titles	O
and	O
headings	O
)	O
and	O
support	O
for	O
Hindi	O
written	O
in	O
Latin	O
letters	O
(	O
hi_Latn	O
)	O
,	O
also	O
referred	O
to	O
as	O
"	O
Hinglish	O
"	O
and	O
updates	O
to	O
the	O
time	B-Device
zone	I-Device
data	O
version	O
2022a	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
support	O
for	O
emoji	B-Application
properties	O
of	O
strings	O
and	O
can	O
now	O
be	O
built	O
and	O
used	O
with	O
C++20	B-Language
compilers	O
(	O
and	O
"	O
ICU	O
operator	O
==(	O
)	O
and	O
operator	O
!=	O
(	O
)	O
functions	O
now	O
return	O
bool	O
instead	O
of	O
UBool	O
,	O
as	O
an	O
adjustment	O
for	O
incompatible	O
changes	O
in	O
C++20	B-Language
"	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
as	O
of	O
that	O
version	O
the	O
minimum	O
Windows	O
version	O
is	O
Windows	B-Device
7	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
ICU	O
58	O
(	O
with	O
Unicode	O
9.0	O
support	O
)	O
is	O
the	O
last	O
version	O
to	O
support	O
older	O
platforms	O
such	O
as	O
Windows	B-Application
XP	I-Application
and	O
Windows	B-Application
Vista	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Support	O
for	O
AIX	B-Application
,	O
Solaris	B-Application
and	O
z/OS	B-Application
may	O
also	O
be	O
limited	O
in	O
later	O
versions	O
(	O
i.e.	O
</s>
<s>
ICU	O
has	O
been	O
included	O
as	O
a	O
standard	O
component	O
with	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
since	O
Windows	B-Operating_System
10	I-Operating_System
version	O
1703	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ICU	O
has	O
historically	O
used	O
UTF-16	O
,	O
and	O
still	O
does	O
only	O
for	O
Java	B-Language
;	O
while	O
for	O
C/C	O
++	O
UTF-8	O
is	O
supported	O
,	O
including	O
the	O
correct	O
handling	O
of	O
"	O
illegal	O
UTF-8	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
After	O
Taligent	B-Operating_System
became	O
part	O
of	O
IBM	O
in	O
early	O
1996	O
,	O
Sun	O
Microsystems	O
decided	O
that	O
the	O
new	O
Java	B-Language
language	I-Language
should	O
have	O
better	O
support	O
for	O
internationalization	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
Taligent	B-Operating_System
had	O
experience	O
with	O
such	O
technologies	O
and	O
were	O
close	O
geographically	O
,	O
their	O
Text	O
and	O
International	O
group	O
were	O
asked	O
to	O
contribute	O
the	O
international	O
classes	O
to	O
the	O
Java	B-Language
Development	I-Language
Kit	I-Language
as	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
JDK	B-Language
1.1	O
internationalization	B-General_Concept
APIs	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Further	O
internationalization	B-General_Concept
features	O
were	O
added	O
with	O
each	O
later	O
release	O
of	O
Java	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Java	B-General_Concept
internationalization	I-General_Concept
classes	O
were	O
then	O
ported	O
to	O
C++	B-Language
and	O
C	B-Language
as	O
part	O
of	O
a	O
library	O
known	O
as	O
ICU4C	B-Application
(	O
"	O
ICU	O
for	O
C	B-Language
"	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
ICU	O
project	O
also	O
provides	O
ICU4J	B-Application
(	O
"	O
ICU	O
for	O
Java	B-Language
"	O
)	O
,	O
which	O
adds	O
features	O
not	O
present	O
in	O
the	O
standard	O
Java	B-Language
libraries	B-Library
.	O
</s>
<s>
ICU4C	B-Application
and	O
ICU4J	B-Application
are	O
very	O
similar	O
,	O
though	O
not	O
identical	O
;	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
ICU4C	B-Application
includes	O
a	O
Regular	B-Language
Expression	I-Language
API	B-General_Concept
,	O
while	O
ICU4J	B-Application
does	O
not	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Both	O
frameworks	O
have	O
been	O
enhanced	O
over	O
time	O
to	O
support	O
new	O
facilities	O
and	O
new	O
features	O
of	O
Unicode	O
and	O
Common	O
Locale	B-Device
Data	O
Repository	O
(	O
CLDR	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ICU	O
was	O
released	O
as	O
an	O
open-source	B-Application
project	O
in	O
1999	O
under	O
the	O
name	O
IBM	O
Classes	O
for	O
Unicode	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
later	O
renamed	O
to	O
International	B-Application
Components	I-Application
For	I-Application
Unicode	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
ICU	O
MessageFormat	O
was	O
created	O
by	O
adding	O
the	O
plural	O
and	O
selection	O
system	O
to	O
an	O
identically-named	O
system	O
in	O
Java	B-Language
SE	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
alternative	O
for	O
using	O
ICU	O
with	O
C++	B-Language
,	O
or	O
to	O
using	O
it	O
directly	O
,	O
is	O
to	O
use	O
Boost.Locale	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
a	O
C++	B-Language
wrapper	O
for	O
ICU	O
(	O
while	O
also	O
allowing	O
other	O
backends	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
claim	O
for	O
using	O
it	O
rather	O
than	O
ICU	O
directly	O
is	O
that	O
"	O
is	O
absolutely	O
unfriendly	O
to	O
C++	B-Language
developers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
ignores	O
popular	O
C++	B-Language
idioms	O
(	O
the	O
STL	O
,	O
RTTI	O
,	O
exceptions	O
,	O
etc	O
)	O
,	O
instead	O
mostly	O
mimicking	O
the	O
Java	B-Language
API.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
Another	O
claim	O
,	O
that	O
ICU	O
only	O
supports	O
UTF-16	O
(	O
and	O
thus	O
a	O
reason	O
to	O
avoid	O
using	O
ICU	O
)	O
is	O
no	O
longer	O
true	O
with	O
ICU	O
now	O
also	O
supporting	O
UTF-8	O
for	O
C	B-Language
and	O
C++	B-Language
.	O
</s>
