JEP 227: Unicode 7.0

Summary

Upgrade existing platform APIs to support version 7.0 of the Unicode Standard.

Goals

Support the latest version of Unicode, mainly in the following classes:

• Character and String in the java.lang package, and
• Bidi, BreakIterator, and Normalizer in the java.text package.

Non-Goals

Two related Unicode specifications are not implemented by this JEP:

• UTS #10, Unicode Collation Algorithm, and
• UTS #46, Unicode IDNA Compatibility Processing.

Motivation

Unicode is an industry standard, so it's important for Java to support the latest version.

Description

Java SE 8 supports Unicode 6.2.

This upgrade will include an improvement to bidirectional behavior, which enables better text display for languages such as Arabic and Hebrew, that was introduced in Unicode 6.3. Unicode 7.0 itself will add about three thousand characters and over twenty scripts.

Testing

We will need to verify that the latest Unicode data is correctly used by the relevant classes.

Risks and Assumptions

If a version later than 7.0 is released in the JDK 9 time frame then this JEP will most likely be updated to specify that version.

Dependences

This feature depends on the Unicode Standard of the Unicode Consortium.