how to write programs using advanced OpenType features?

Question

How could I write a simple program using OpenType tables in order to dynamically render text?

please answer in :

• assembly , C , C++ , C# , java or Python (and a little WPF:-)

or introduce libraries of them.

comments and answers about text rendering system of common Operating Systems, or designing text engines compatible with unicode 5.02 protocol are welcomed.

Answer 1

I don't know if this will satisfy your needs or not, but I've used the FreeType library in the past to render TrueType text. It is quite flexible and easily ported between various platforms (Linux, Windows, OSX, etc.). Also, the licensing (BSD-style) is such that using it in commercial applications is not a problem.

Answer 2

FreeType only offers basic rendering capabilities and does not support advanced OpenType features. Lots of years ago, FreeType 1.x contained a module that provided OpenType functionality, but this became its own project: HarfBuzz. If you need something that works everywhere (every OS/platform), it should be the best solution. The excellent pango library provides a high-level interface for HarfBuzz, among other things.

Windows provides an OpenType engine, called Uniscribe. The same goes for OS X, which has ATSUI.

That should get you started, I hope.