translating foreign data

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Sat, 23 Jun 2018 08:12:52 -0400, Richard Damon wrote:

> On 6/23/18 7:46 AM, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
>> On Sat, 23 Jun 2018 06:26:22 -0400, Richard Damon wrote:
>>
>>> If you know the Locale, then you do know what the decimal separator
>>> is, as that is part of what a locale defines.
>> A locale defines a set of common cultural conventions. It doesn't
>> mandate the actual conventions in use in any specific document.
>>
>> If I'm in Australia, using the en-AU locale, nevertheless I can
>> generate a file using , as a decimal separator. Try and stop me :-)
>
> yes, you can MIS-use the en-AU locale and write 1,000 to mean the number
> One, just as you can misuse the language and write cat when you mean a
> member of the Canine group, 

How about if I write "le chien" or "der Hund" or "собака"? Is that also a 
misuse of the locale because I choose to write in a foreign language, 
using foreign conventions for spelling, grammar and syntax?


> but then the misinterpretation is on the
> creator of the document, not on the program that was told how the
> document is to be read.

You're assuming that there will be a misinterpretation. That's an absurd 
assumption to make. There might be, of course, but the documentation for 
my document might be clear that comma is to be used for decimal 
separators. Or it might include numbers like

    1.234.567,012345678

which is understandable to anyone who is aware of the possibility that 
comma may mean decimal separator and period the thousands separator.




-- 
Steven D'Aprano
"Ever since I learned about confirmation bias, I've been seeing
it everywhere." -- Jon Ronson