À 11:37 1999-12-20 -0800, addison@globalsight.com a écrit :
>Also, for cross-locale (Enterprise) systems, it is becoming more common to
>use the ISO three letter acronym for the currency (so that that same format
>can be used in reports) like this:
>
>1,000.00 USD -- US dollar
>1,000.00 FFR -- French Franc
>1,000.00 DDM -- Deutsch Mark
>1,000.00 EUR -- Euro
[Alain] You illustrate perfectly a very well-known problem with this
approcah. People in the streets (even sometimes bankers -- see below) don't
know anything about it.
It is not FFR, it is FRF (FRance - Franc)
It is not DDM, it is DEM (DEutschland - Mark)
The rule is the ISO 3066 country code (2 letters), followed by a letter
representing the national currency unit...
And no, it is not DFL for the Dutch florin... It is NLG... (NEderland -
Gulden).
Nor is it SWF for the Swiss franc... It is CHF (Confœderatio Helvetica -
Franc).
Nor is it UKP for the British pound. It is GBP (and no, the name of the
country is not United Kingdom, but "United Kindom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland" [country code GB, obvious, isn't it?])
I have seen but bad usages (including those examples) for this in all
countries I have visited. Even at **most** foreign currency exchange
places, affiliates to banks, which are said to be those who use this standard.
That said, the approach remains the global solution in principle. But
education is required. A lot of education. Is it the example of
culturally-neutral identifier? I don't believe so. Addison, a coding
specialist, just demonstrated it once more, but he is far to be alone.
Alain LaBonté
Québec
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