Tamil Software Development

TAMIL SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

There are three basic technologies used for using Tamil on computer. They are

1. Keyboard

2. Encoding

3. Fonts

1. Keyboard

A keyboard is a peripheral device. It enables the user to enter text into a computer or any other electronic machine. The keyboard is the most basic way for the user to internet with a computer. It is one of the first technologies to use Tamil on computers.

2. Encoding

Determining which key to press and which letter should appear is encoding. It is the process of converting data into a format required for many information processing needs.

1. ASCII

To use a language in a computer, each character of the language must be assigned a numerical value. This method is called coding. In this way, English was created to be viewed on the computer. This called ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange).

Similarly, ISCII (Indian Standard Code for Information Interchange) is a common coding system for all Indian languages. After this, TSCII Coding system came into effect.

2. TAM

Tamil Monolingual is a monolingual code developed for typing only Tamil characters.

3. TAB

Tamil Bilingual (TAM) is developed to use the same font for both Tamil and English languages.

4. Unicode

The universal code was created by the Unicode Consortium in 1991 when software development companies came together to set up a coding system needed to handle multiple languages at the same time.

5. TACE

A separate software was required to enter the consonants in Unicode Tamil encoding. To avoid this, Tamil All Character Encoding (TACE) was developed.

3. Fonts

Fonts are a collection of shapes that are all the same size and in a consistent order. A variety of free fonts are now available for exclusive use. It can be downloaded at www.tamilvu.org/coresite/ html/cwdownload.htm at Tamil Internet Education Corporation. Similarly, www.ilasundaram.blogspot.in also provides 20 beautiful Unicode fonts for printing.

1. Adami

Adami software was created to develop software in Tamil like English software. Through this, it was possible to write in Tamil on the computer and print it..

2. Mayilai

Mayilai Software is designed with English alphabet. It has been created in such a way that the Tamil letter 'அ' appears while pressing the English letter 'H'.

3. Murasu Mail

Murasu Mail has been introduced by the Murasu Software developer. It also included Fonts, Editor, e-mail applications and keyboard. By using this, e-mail communication was made easier.

4. e-Kalappai

e-Kalappai is an application to create an open source keyboard manager to type non-english languages. This software has been developed to include two functions, They are (i) Installing e-kalappai on the computer and (ii) Installing the uni-code fonts.

5. Azhagi

Azhagi software is easy and fast. It varies from place to place. English and Tamil phonetic word association is the hallmark of Azhagi. This allows you to type more in less time.

Example: The name Sridhar can be typed as Sreedhar, Sridhar and Srithar.

6. Agappai Tamil Writing

Agappai Tamil writing software helps to type Tamil letters easily. It can be installed on websites and web portals for free.

4. Tamil Typing Practice

1. Windows

There are many software available to type Tamil on computer in Windows XP, 7, 8 with Tamil 99 typing mode.

2. Mac

We can type Tamil through two types of keyboards: Tamil key 99 and Tamil Transliteration, which are provided by default on Mac platform, ipad, phone without interrupting software.

Apart from this, Indic Notes, Murasu Anjal, Ponmozhi text editors help for typing in Tamil on ipad, phone.

3. Android

Tamil 99 keyboard can be used on Android Smartphones and Tablet PCs with keyboards such as Sellinam by Murasu Mail, Ponmozhi by Learn Fun and Tamil key and type Tamil.

4. Linux

Linux Operating Systems have built in facilities for typing in Tamil. These include free software called IBUS (Intelligent Input Bus - IBUS).

5. Tamil Keyboard

Computer keyboards with Tamil 99 typing are available in the market. In this, instead of; 'q w e r t y', the Tamil characters ‘ஆ ஈ ஊ ஐ ஏ ள' are printed.

6. Floating Keyboard

Floating keyboards have also been created and are in use for people who do not know how to type to enter characters by pressing the keys on the computer screen with the mouse. It is also called virtual keyboard (or) online keyboard (or) web typing.

7. Tamil Online Keyboard

The keyboard which is added to the Bookmark in the Web Browser and typed through it is called online Web Browser Keyboard..

8. Google Input Tools

Google provides a service called Google Input Tools for online input in many languages. It also has a keyboard to input Tamil language in this way.