CJKV Information Processing, 2nd Edition

Input Techniques

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More advanced input methods implement parsers that use grammatical information for

making decisions. is allows users to input whole sentences by reading, and then lets the

soware slice the input into units that are manageable for conversion. Like I mentioned

earlier, errors in parsing are quite common.

Input by Structure

Input by reading, whether transliterated using Latin characters or not, is by far the most

common method for inputting CJKV text, and it is also the easiest to learn. But there are

times when input by reading fails to locate the desired ideographs, or when it is simply

not fast enough.

Ideographs, as described in Chapter 2, are composed of radicals or radical-like elements,

which in turn are composed of strokes. Ideographs with related shapes—which some-

times means that they have somewhat related meanings—can thus be grouped together.

All of the following input techniques involve the structure of the ideograph:

By indexing radical•

By number of strokes—total or residual•

By stroke shapes•

By corner•

In case it is not yet obvious, there exist input techniques that use both structure and read-

ing. Some examples are covered later in this chapter in the section entitled “Input by

Multiple Criteria.”

Input by indexing radical

e most common way to organize and arrange ideographs, other than by reading, is

by indexing radical. In the past, ...