java - How were the Locale constants chosen? -
the java class java.util.locale has set of public static final fields languages/countries direct references specific locales. other locales can used via appropriate constructors. however, selection of values seems rather arbitrary me. the languages (in order in appear in source): english, french, german, italian, japanese, korean, chinese, simplified chinese, traditional chinese the countries are: france, germany, italy, japan, korea, china, prc, taiwan, uk, us, canda , canada french (for locale fr_ca). does have idea (or guess) how languages/countries chosen? those codes defined iso standards 3166 country codes , 639 language codes. see w3c internationalization activity page. edit: re-reading question, op knew :-) according sun article internationalization: understanding locale in java platform values chosen examples , tells us: because few premade locales exist, should avoid these static objects altogether.