What Is an Input Method?

Input method refers to the encoding method used to input various symbols into electronic information equipment (such as computers and mobile phones).

Input

The input method refers to the

The demand for input methods comes from keyboard restrictions. The keyboard used to be

Since there are tens of thousands of Chinese characters, it is impossible for a computer keyboard to make a key for each Chinese character. Therefore, people need to edit input codes for Chinese characters (retrieve codes for Chinese characters), and use a few keys to input a Chinese character. The development of the Chinese input method is a process of "10,000 yards of Pentium", and thousands of encoding methods have appeared in 30 years.

The earliest Chinese character input method is generally considered to have been born in the late 1970s or early 1980s with a personal computer PC. Although there was a telegram code earlier, each Chinese character was formed by a four-digit combination of 0-9 It is convenient for the Post and Telecommunications Bureau to send telegrams, but in a general sense, people still think that since the National Standards Bureau released the "Basic Set of Character Encoding Character Sets for Information Interchange" GB2312-80 in 1981, Wubi or Pinyin was used to input Chinese characters This is the real beginning of the widespread use of input methods. The history of Chinese character input methods in Taiwan can be traced back to the Cangjie input method invented by Zhu Bangfu in 1976.

The development of the Chinese character input method is, on the one hand, the improvement and improvement of the function of the input method software, and on the other hand, the continuous emergence of new input method coding. The former is mainly for the Pinyin input method, while the latter has a situation of "10,000 yards Pentium". Most of the early input method software was paid software. Many companies or individuals rely on selling input method software to make money. Today, there are few input methods that are charged, and most of the input method software are free products.

The input method encoding itself only sets a set of encoding rules for Chinese characters, and cannot itself implement Chinese character input. For the normal entry of text, it needs the input method software platform's support. The input method software is different for different operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and other computer operating systems and Android, iOS and other mobile and tablet operating system input method software are different, but these operating system input method software contains The input method encoding is the same.

The input method system platform can be supported by local programs, such as input method software or plug-in green software that needs to be installed, as well as browser-based online input methods. No matter what kind of input method software, the input method code used is one or more of three types: pinyin, shape code, and sound shape code.

Under Windows, popular input method platforms include Sogou Pinyin input method, Baidu input method, Google Pinyin input method, QQ pinyin input method, smart ABC input method, Bing input method and other pinyin-type input methods, and Sogou Wubi input Method, QQ Wubi input method, pole Chinese input method platform, Xiaoya Wubi input method, pole Zhengma input method, super two stroke input method, natural code input method, Xiaohe Shuangpin input method and other shape codes or phonetic codes Input method software. For Japanese and Korean input method software, there are also Google and Baidu to launch the corresponding Google Japanese input method, Google Korean input method, Baidu Japanese input method and so on.

In the Windows system, some developers have introduced a green version of the input method that is free of installation. These green versions of the input methods are generally small in size, take up less resources, do not need to be installed, also save the trouble of rewriting the registry, and prevent leakage of real-time update information. Green input methods, generally there are quasi-green input methods based on the IME method that need to modify the registry, such as pinyin plus green version, and there are completely green installation-free versions based on plug-in methods, such as the small input method green version , Cool input method and Pinyin star green input method, etc.

In the Linux distribution, usually the system has a built-in IBus input method framework or Fcitx input method framework. Under the input method framework, it supports multiple input method encodings, including Pinyin input method, Wubi input method, Erbi input method, and Zhengma input method. Wait. The IBus input method framework is an input platform that supports multiple languages. Japanese, Korean, Arabic and other languages are also supported. In Mac OS X system, in addition to the system's built-in input method framework, there are Baidu input method, Sogou input method, QQ input method, etc. These input method platforms generally have several input method codes, such as Pinyin input method , Wubi input method, etc.

On Android, iPhone, iPad and other smart phones or tablets, the system also generally has Chinese input built-in.

Phone input method

There are also many Internet companies in China that launch corresponding mobile phone input method software, such as Baidu mobile phone input method, Sogou mobile phone input method, QQ mobile phone input method, and some personal input method software. The input method software on the mobile phone or tablet also has multiple input method encodings, like Baidu mobile phone input method itself comes with Pinyin input method, stroke input method, Wubi input method, handwriting function, voice input function, while Baidu mobile phone input The method also supports custom phrases and custom schemes. Through the custom schemes, the normal use of input codes such as Zhengma input method and Erbi input method can be conveniently realized.

In addition to the input function of local input method application text, with the development of the Internet, many Internet companies have also launched online input methods based on the cloud platform, which can directly call the input method on the browser to input Chinese characters. For example, Baidu has launched the Baidu online input method for inputting web pages. Users do not need to install it, and long sentence input is accurate. Generally only available in web pages.

An Internet company has also developed web-based

Baidu Online Input Method

The function of the station server to update the thesaurus online and the user's thesaurus to the server synchronously further accelerates the update of hot words and new words. Representatives in this regard include Google Pinyin input method, QQ input method and Sogou input method. However, this type of input method brings several problems. First, the network update causes the user's machine input response to be slow. Some users complain that the system is updated frequently when they are turned on, and they do not want to update and synchronize so frequently. Second, users are concerned about privacy. Leaks, after all, many of the input methods are personal things of users. When uploading, you are worried about the information being transmitted. Even if it is in the Internet company's machine, it is difficult to worry about not leaking it. And take up more resources.