ATOK

Infobox Software
name = ATOK


caption =
developer = JustSystems
latest_release_version = ATOK 2008
latest_release_date = Feburuary 8, 2008
operating_system = Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Solaris
genre = Input method editor
license = Proprietary
website = [http://www.atok.com/ ATOK.com]

ATOK is a Japanese input method editor (IME) produced by JustSystems, a Japanese software company.

ATOK is an IME with roots from 1983 and DOS, but it now supports a large number of platforms including Linux, Mac OS X and different flavours of Windows.

Sun Microsystems chose ATOK as their input method when running under the JP locale in Solaris 10 and above, enhancing Sun's already strong Japanese language support.For embedded systems, JustSystems has developed +ATOK. Some Japanese mobile phones, PDAs, video game consoles (PSP, PS3 and Wii), digital video recorders, automotive navigation systems come with +ATOK.

Once ATOK meant" Automatic Transfer Of Kana-kanji". Now, It means " Advanced Technology Of Kana-kanji" Transfer. Some people used to believe that it stood for "Awa-TOKushima" or "ASCII TO Kanji".

The word "ATOK" is commonly pronounced /éitɔk/ now, but some people used to pronounce it /átɔk/.

Functionality

Functionality varies between versions for different platforms. The following non-exhaustive list shall be seen just as an indication.

* Search kanji from phonetic input - both using romaji keyboard and kana keyboard.
* Search kanji by radical.
* Drawing pad for handwriting recognition.
* Reverse retrieval of phonetic input - both to kunyomi and onyomi.
* Text templates for standard phrases, address labels and Japanese emoticons.
* Real time auto-completion of text - both Japanese and English. (Example: type "fun" and you immediately get a list of words starting with "fun": function, fun, fund, funk...).
* Character information, JIS and Unicode codes, pronunciations, related characters.
* Japanese date formats.
* Character palette for input of special symbols, accented Latin, Russian, etc.
* Customizable input keys and keyboard shortcuts for the different functions.

As of April, 2008, the latest version for Windows is ATOK 2008. The latest version for Macintosh is ATOK 2007. The latest version for Linux is ATOK X3.

See also

*Ichitaro - a Japanese word processor produced by Justsystems. ATOK comes bundled with the Ichitaro product.

External links

* [http://www.atok.com/ ATOK.com]