36 Chapter 36. Unicode enhancements The Unicode Standard is the universal character encoding standard used for representation of text for computer processing. It is fully compatible with the second edition of International Standard ISO/IEC 10646-1:2000, and contains all the same characters and encoding points as ISO/IEC 10646. The Unicode Standard also provides additional information about the characters and their use. Any implementation that is in conformance to Unicode is also in conformance with ISO/IEC 10646. Unicode provides a consistent way of encoding multilingual plain text and brings order to a chaotic state of affairs that has made it difficult to exchange text files internationally. Computer users who deal with multilingual text--business people, linguists, researchers, scientists, and others--will find that the Unicode Standard greatly simplifies their work. Mathematicians and technicians, who regularly use mathematical symbols and other technical characters, will also find the Unicode Standard valuable. This chapter describes the enhancements to UNICODE with z/OS V1R12: Unicode on Demand © Copyright IBM Corp. 2011. All rights reserved. 719