Although special system-input mechanisms, device drivers and hardware are necessary to handle the large number of distinct characters, usually applications need not be concerned with how the operator keys in a character, how the keystrokes get converted to DBCS characters, or how the very large set of character fonts are managed. However, you need to be aware that the handling of SBCS/DBCS mixed string data for input, processing, and output to displays/printers is a major programming consideration for DBCS support. The following chapters will show the details of how to reflect these considerations in designing your DBCS support.