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Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 23:36:18 -0800
From: "Craig McClanahan" <craigmcc@apache.org>
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To: "Jakarta Commons Developers List" <commons-dev@jakarta.apache.org>
Subject: Re: [all] exceptions and localization
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On 1/28/07, Stephen Colebourne <scolebourne@btopenworld.com> wrote:
>
> Phil Steitz wrote:
> > I am interested in what others have to
> > say about this as a general practice for commons.  For [math]
> specifically,
> > I think it is important that we can fit seamlessly into localized
> > applications, and we are refactoring our exceptions hierarchy anyway, so
> I
> > say go for it.
>
> I disagree strongly with the whole concept of localized exception
> messages. Localization for users yes, but developers no.
>
> > On 1/28/07, Luc Maisonobe <Luc.Maisonobe@free.fr> wrote:
> > As a non-native english speaker, I am quite eager to provide users
> > with libraries that can be embedded seemlessly into localized
> > applications.
>
> IMO, a localized application actually means localization for users, and
> implies nothing for developers.
>
> Adding localized error messages is another place for the application to
> go wrong, so you're going to have to test this fully. After all, if you
> get it wrong, you could lose the real exception and just get a
> meaningless failed to localize exception. And thats a terrible outcome.
>
> For the record, I would -1 any code commit to add localized error
> messages to a component I actively commit to.


I'm late to the table on this thread, and only care about the Commons
libraries I care about :-), but you should be aware that this attitude will
disqualify the use of such libraries from use within code from organizations
that have strict rules about implementing localization.  I work for such an
organization (Sun) ... the key rules are that any message that might be
visible to users *must* be localizable.

For log messages, that tends to translate into a straightforward policy that
DEBUG and TRACE type messages do not need to be localized, but anything from
INFO level above must be.  The issue for exception messages is a bit more
interesting.  How does the library developer know whether or not the message
part of the exception will be displayed to end users?  From a pragmatic
viewpoint, you can pretty much assume this will happen with exceptions in
webapps, while many Swing apps will hide that sort of stuff to some degree.

But, as a bottom line, if I'm interested in maximum adoption of a Commons
library I work on, I will diligently ensure that exception messages are
localizable :-).

Stephen


Craig


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