And as a *general* statement about applying zxx to programming languages, I think that unless and until we add ", or programming languages" to the Description, it is unsuitable for application to programming languages. I don't think we are that far apart here -- we both agree that zxx ought to be the right thing. Where we disagree is that you think it already has that meaning, and I can't see it at all in the standard.
<br><br>But since it is a broadening, we can make a change and then both of us would be happy (or at least happier). So what do you say we agree on that, and be done with this part of the issue?<br><br>Mark<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">
On 4/20/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Peter Constable</b> <<a href="mailto:petercon@microsoft.com">petercon@microsoft.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div link="blue" vlink="purple" lang="EN-US">
<div><span class="q">
<p><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">From:</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
<a href="mailto:mark.edward.davis@gmail.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">mark.edward.davis@gmail.com</a> [mailto:<a href="mailto:mark.edward.davis@gmail.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
mark.edward.davis@gmail.com</a>] <b>On Behalf Of
</b>Mark Davis<br>
<br>
<b><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"></span></b></span></p></span><span class="q">
<p><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">></span>> I don't expect
to see .cxx, .h, etc. files tagged with language tags any time soon<br>
<span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">></span><br>
<span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">> </span>Well, every file available on the web,
like <span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">> </span><a href="http://www.cs.duke.edu/csed/tapestry/win/date.h" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://www.cs.duke.edu/csed/tapestry/win/date.h
</a>(chosen at random) gets <span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">> </span>some language tag when processed at Google (I can't
say what MSN, <span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">> </span>Yahoo, and other search engines do). So right under
your nose millions of <span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">> </span>pages of source code are getting tagged, all the
time. We are faced with the <span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">> </span>practical problem of what the best thing to do is
according to the standard. <span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p></span>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Well, I suppose you have to decide: when an English user does a
search on "date", what's the likelihood that the content in a
file date.h is going to be of interest to them. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p>
<pre><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">All I've said all along is that the only appropriate language tag in ISO 639 for programming languages (when you have determined the content is in a programming language) is "zxx". That refers to content such as "
</span>#ifndef _DATE_H<span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">", not content such as "</span>// a class for manipulating dates<span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">". Deciding how Google should tag a file like
date.h is an entirely different question. Absent any context, there is no right or wrong answer about how to tag *<b>as a whole</b>* a file like date.h: clearly there is about as much English content in that file as there is C (or whatever prog lang it is). In a given application context, such as how Google should tag that file as a whole, there may be good reasons to tag it one way or another. But that's a question to be worked out in the context of that application; IMO it is not a question that should be answered in BCP 47.
</span></pre>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">If you want to add text suggesting that different things may be
done in different application scenarios, including tagging programming-code
content with English comments or string literals as "en" when that provides
the attribute most useful for implementation and user experience, I have no
problem with that. But a *<b>general</b>* statement along lines such as that using
an IETF language tag/ISO 639 ID "en" for such programming code is
appropriate or that the appropriate tag for your example 9 would be "und"
is, IMO, not something that should appear in BCP 47.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Peter</span></p>
<p><br>
<br>
</p>
</div>
</div>
<br>_______________________________________________<br>Ltru mailing list<br><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:Ltru@ietf.org">Ltru@ietf.org</a><br><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ltru" target="_blank">
https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ltru</a><br><br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Mark