CDAC's GIST Card - Applications (Part II)

Applications
C-DAC GIST Card finds its use in all character-based applications on MS-DOS whenever any Indian language needs to be used along with English for communication. It can be used for varied applications depending on the user's requirements. Some of the broad application areas of C-DAC GIST Card are :

* Multilingual data processing with existing application software like dBase, FoxPro, QBasic etc. Creating, processing, sorting and printing multilingual data.
* Multilingual word-processing with the customised multilingual word-processor ‘ALP For GIST Card’.
* Development of customised multilingual application software.
* Generation and printing of multilingual spreadsheets and reports.
* Multilingual communication on networks

C-DAC GIST Card is ideal for multilingual database applications. With the help of the GIST Card, it is possible to have the programming code in English, while the database can be accepted, sorted, maintained, displayed and printed in Hindi or any other Indian languages. Screens for accepting data in any Indian language can be designed with the help of the GIST Card. GIST Card also finds usage in generation and printing of multilingual spreadsheets, reports, forms etc. (through the existing software packages). This makes it ideal for developing customised multilingual software packages for various applications like Payroll, Accounting, Inventory, Customers, Banking etc.

Many such customised packages have already been developed by independent developers for various applications.
Some of these customised applications are -
Printing of multilingual bills, invoices and receipts.
Printing of multilingual payslips.
Printing of multilingual labels and forms.
Printing of multilingual reports and ledgers

USING C-DAC GIST CARD WITH EXISTING SOFTWARE PACKAGES: GIST Card can be used on IBM PCs under various operating systems like MS-DOS, Intel UNIX, Novell Netware. GIST Card supports all text applications under these Operating Systems. Some tips are given below for using GIST card with these softwares.

C-DAC's GIST CARD - FAQ (Part1)

How or is it possible to work with computers application in the several Indian Languages ? This is the question which has been constantly striking our minds - Yes we can now, using CDA's Gist Card...... Below is a set of questions that come to our minds often when we speak of Gist Cards.....

C-DAC GIST CARD

Frequently asked questions

Q. What can I do with GIST card?
Ans.: GIST card makes it possible to use your IBM-PC compatible in a script independent way. Whatever you could do now in only English language, can now be done in your own script like Tamil, Bengali, Devanagari, etc. The existing software meant for taking input in English can now accept data in your script. Similarly it can display it also in the same script or a different one, instantly. This is possible due to the transliteration feature.

Q. Is my language supported on GIST card?
Ans.: All major Indian scripts are supported on GIST. It includes - Devanagari (used for Hindi, Marathi and Sanskrit languages), Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, and Assamese. Even the right to left scripts like Urdu, Sindhi, Kashmiri, are provided. (Persian for word processing only.) Other available scripts are English, Tibetan, Druk(Bhutanese), Sinhalese, Russian, Arabic, and Thai.

Q. Do I need a GIST card?
Ans.: If you are working with different Indian or foreign scripts, GIST card can make your work simpler. You can do Word- processing, Data-processing and whole lot of new applications with GIST. You may now use any word class software meant for English with your scripts. Or you may write your own software using any standard software tools and compilers in Basic, Cobol, Fortran, Pascal, C, Assembly, Dbase, Clipper, Prolog, etc.

Q. Can I use it on my computer?
Ans.: The GIST add-on card for PCs can be used with all IBM-PC compatibles. It includes the PCs, PC-XTs, PC-ATs, PC-386ATs, etc. There are different type of GIST cards designed to work with CGA/HGA/EGA (V1.3/1.51), and VGA (V1.44) display adapters. Due to the differences in the hardware it is advisable to furnish the following information while ordering the card - Type of computer, manufacturer, display adapter, monitor type (colour/monochrome, TTL/composite/Analog).

Q. Is the GIST card an expensive solution?
Ans.: The GIST card gives you excellent value for your money in the short run as well as the long run. You can use almost any text mode software with your own language data. It means you do not have to change the software to take care of the scripts and the latest versions of your favorite software can be used straight away. For example, if you were using dBase III and you upgraded to dBase IV, then the same GIST card would provide the familiar script interface. It also eliminates recurring training needed for the staff as in case of other specific application oriented script interfaces.

Q. Where to look for other information?
Ans.: The following additional documents may be of use.
1. ALP manual
2. Inscript Keyboard Manual
3. Bureau of Indian Standards document, IS 13194:1991

More Terminology used in GIST and Indian Language Computing

Data Page is exactly similar to the standard IBM screen (display page) 80 characters and 25 rows
Script Page is a bitmap graphics page that provides word-processing support for the proportionally spaced scripts.
Transliteration : This is the process of conversion from one script to another. In this process, data is converted to another script. However this is not grammatical translation.
Conjuncts : Combination of two or more consonants within a given word
GUI : Graphical user Interface.
Glyphs : Shapes that characters can have when they are rendered or displayed. A single glyph may correspond to a single character, or to a number of characters, or multiple glyphs may result from a single character. A repertoire of glyphs comprises a font.
Ligatures : Two or more characters that are joined together during rendition.
NLP : Natural Language Processing. A term generically used in Computers to embrace all and every interaction of Language Interfaces with a Machine interface.
OSI : Open Systems Interface.

INDIAN LANGUAGES ON THE WEB

Now it is possible to view pages in Indian Languages and scripts over the internet using the Dynamic Font technology : This is of two types :-
EOT- Embedded Open Type Font
PFR- Portable Font Resourse

This technology is used as by default the browsers available and the various versions of windows generally available do not have Indian Languages / Scripts present in them.

More detailed explanation on Dynamic fonts and their Usage shall be taken up at a later date...

GLOSSARY of Terms used in GIST (for Indian Language Computing)

This is a collection of general terms used in connection with GIST Technology for Indian Languages or otherwise.
GIST - Graphics and Intelligence based Script Technology
ISCII - Indian Standard Code for Information Interchange
ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange
ACII - Alphabetic Code for Information Interchange
PC-ISCII - 8bit code to be used along with the Text-oriented packages
7 Bit ISCII - Uses only lower half of the 8-bit code.
ISFOC - Indian Standard Font Code
ISM - ISFOC Script Manager
INSCRIPT - Indian SCRIPT Keyboard layout
TTF-True Type Font
OCR-Optical Code Recognition
ISCLAP-Indian Script Code for Language Paging
HTML-Hyper Text Markable Language

ISFOC Standards in Indian Language Computing

ISFOC

With the advent of graphical environments like MS-Windows, work was being done on development of Indian language fonts on these platforms. It was most natural to implement this in a consistent way for aesthetic composition in each of the Indian scripts. A standard coding scheme known as ISFOC (Indian Script Font Code) was adopted to allow addition of large number of fonts by independent developers. This enrichment has succeeded with a large range of quality fonts on this standard. Some of the major applications of national importance of the GIST Technology were Land Records Project, Indian Language Subtitling of Films, Put Heritage content on Internet, Voter ID Card Project, Indian Language Data Communication on NIC Net and NII (National Information Infrastructure). GIST has also succeeded in establishing a network of Authorized Training Centers (PACE ATCs) all over India. These ATCs, which have penetrated upto the tahsil level, are engaged in introducing masses to computers in their own languages and conducting job-oriented courses in vernacular word-processing, data-processing and desk-top-publishing. GIST Technology can be employed making customized multilingual applications to suit the specific requirements of various sectors like Banking, Insurance, Oil and Petroleum, Telecom, Power etc.

Some of these applications for various sectors are:
Banking : Bilingual Passbooks; Bilingual customer reports, ledgers etc.; Entire Front-office interaction with customers in their own mother tongue.

Insurance : Bilingual Policy Instruments; Bilingual correspondence (letters, reminders etc.) Bilingual premium receipts etc.

Oil & Petroleum.: Bilingual invoices, delivery challans, cash memos etc.

Power : Bilingual Electricity bills; Reminders
Telecom : Bilingual Telephone bills.
E Commerce : email server, Indian language websites.

Inscript Keyboard Layout for Indian Languages

Inscript Keyboard layout This layout emerged out of brainstorming by several committees in DoE and was published in the IPAG journal in 1986. The concerns which it addressed were-
a) People perceived Indian languages as very difficult to use on mechanical typewriters and avoided using them. This mental block arose due to the keyboard learning difficulty encountered on vernacular typewriters.
b) There was no standardization of vernacular keyboard layouts.
c) If we were to increase the usage of Indian languages in future and make them co-exist and flourish on computers in harmony with English, it was imperative to develop a keyboarding scheme even simpler than English. Fortunately, our languages have a phonetic nature, this led to the development of a common phonetic layout based on consonants and vowels alone. All compositions and conjuncts were now handled by a computer with intelligent algorithms. This also gave rise to the acronym ‘GIST’ for Graphics and Intelligence based Script Technology. With this phonetic keyboard one can work in multiple languages, it is most easy to learn for infrequent users, is excellent for touch typing by typists, and provides ease of use for Indian languages. Today it is most popular amongst new users and many die-hard typewriter fanatics who tried it have switched over to it. Since it is common for all Indian scripts, it has been named as Inscript (Indian script) keyboard.

ISCII Standards in Indian Languages

ISCII

This common platform for all Indian languages stemmed from the unique and path breaking coding scheme which evolved with this technology. That DoE, through its various committees, could evolve a consensus and recommend it for standardization in 1983, 86 and 88 speaks volumes about its soundness. Subsequently, ISCII (Indian Script Code for Information Interchange) code became a national standard with Bureau of Indian Standards publishing it as IS13194:1991 document in 1991.

Technological Milestones in GIST

Standardization

During the 80’s, there were several efforts to provide Indian languages on the newly emerging desktop PCs. Some tried to develop a basic database or spreadsheet package in Hindi or other languages. Others tried their hand on developing bilingual word-processors. However, these were limited to a few scripts, and their independent and incompatible character coding schemes made data interchange almost impossible. Also, the procedure followed in keying the data in each of these applications was drastically different from one another.

In 1986, the DoE sponsored project at IIT, Kanpur resulted in launch of Indian script Terminal (GIST Terminal) to be used with UNIX machines. Within a short time, a PC compatible add-on card (GIST Card) was also introduced. On this platform, all Indian scripts were introduced in a consistent approach and on a common platform. This was possible due to the common alphabet shared by all Indian scripts that evolved out of the ancient Brahmi script. This co-existence of all Indian scripts, along with English, on a common platform caught the fancy of users with its simplicity of usage, and more significantly because it removed the software development crunch. The GIST Terminal and GIST Card allowed users to use the best and latest English language software with Indian language data. This gave a big boost to Indian language data processing and many projects could be conceived based on this platform.

Brief history of C-DAC & GIST - How it all started.

C-DAC started as a national initiative in 1988, to develop technology for high performance supercomputers for its legitimate applications, and to make India self-sufficient in this area. As the first mission, we delivered the PARAM 8000 series of supercomputers in 1991 within the stipulated deadline, and demonstrated large applications for the usage in various sectors like space, power, remote sensing, weather forecasting, radio astronomy etc. C-DAC is already through her second mission to deliver even more powerful supercomputers for more demanding applications. PARAM 10000, unveiled on 28th March 1998, the 11th foundation day of the organisation is a result of the second mission. During these years we have worked on various fronts of Information Technology, enabling solutions in areas like Financial and Capital market simulation and modeling, Network and Internet Software, Healthcare, Real Time Systems, eGovernance, Data Warehousing, Digital library, Artificial Intelligence and Naturallanguage processing.

GIST: The development of language technology was taken up around the initial stages of the organization under the GIST mission, which originated in IIT, Kanpur in 1986 as a DoE sponsored project. This had a tremendous social relevance for a vast population of our country, and it was C-DAC’s initiative to develop a technological lead in an area where commercial interests were deemed to be very low.

Multiple Indian languages on computer

Multiple Indian languages on computer

Apex Languages Processor for Indian languages

Apex Language Processor (ALP) is a multilingual word processor available under DOS and UNIX. The ASCII code is used for storing the multilingual text, while the ASCII keyboard overlay is provided for typing them. The ISCII code and Inscript keyboard are used for the typing in the Indian Languages / Scripts as defined in BIS standard IS:13194:1991.

ALP displays 14 rows of NLQ (on CGA monitors it shows 8 rows). It provides microjustification. most of the commands used are similar to Wordstar but unlike wordstar, indenting a paragraph does not require insertion of any dot command. The tab in the first line define the indentation to be carried out for the subsequent lines of the paragraph.

ALP provides microjustification of a paragraph by expanding/contracting the space between words. It provides justification within a 'marked block'.

Salient Features:

• Can handle all Indian Languages / Scripts - Assamese, Bengali, Devanagri, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu. Asian Scripts such as Bhutanese, Tibetan, Sinhalese and diacritic Roman.
• Wordstar compatible commands
• Uses ISFOC fonts for display and printing, thus providing WYSIWYG and publishing quality printouts.
• Spellchecks in Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati.
• Supports 9-pin, 24-pin dotmatrix printers and HP laserjetII compatible printers.
• Mailing made easy with help of mailmerge.
• Expeditious document generation through keyboard Macros.
• Easy generation of Table of Contents.
• Autosave
• Conversion of text to uppercase, lower case or sentence case.
• On-line help of keyboard in use.

Development of Indian Languages in Information Technology

After the Govt. of India was impressed by the work done by 4 Kanpur IITians in developing the GIST Technology for Indian Language computing, The Deptt. of Electronics, Govt. of India, gave them space and funds to further develop the technology at CDAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing) Pune. CDAC is the place where the Param Super Computer was developed by India.

Advancement of Indian Language computing

After the start of GIST Technology, then DOS/Unix based, hardware and software the next step was the introduction of ISM = ISFOC Script Manager, where ISFOC stands for Indian Scripts FOnt Code. This software is a font package of all the Indian Scripts for usage under Windows/Linux enviornment. Apart from having a collection of aesthetic fonts in all the various Indian Scripts one can also take the advantage of various word processing and editing features which support Indian Language Scripts. Presently the following Indian Language Scripts are supported --- Assamese, Bengali, Devnagri (Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit), Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu. In the foreign languages the package supports Thai, Sinhalese, Nepalese. A seperate pack is available for Perso-arabic scripts - Arabic, Urdu, Sindhi and Persian.

Welcome

Working in Multiple Indian Languages on your computer is no longer a dream. It's a reality!

In this blog we shall discuss the various ways in which you can work in different languages on your computer and save the data in your favourite computer program.