6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the Unicode weights for the strings s p s p+1 . . . s n and t p t p+1 . . . t m are computed, the computation comprising: for each character, performing a lookup in a Unicode weight table to identify a respective primary weight, a respective accent weight, and a respective case-weight; forming a primary Unicode weight w p as a concatenation of the identified primary weights; forming an accent Unicode weight w a as a concatenation of the identified accent weights; forming a case Unicode weight w c as a concatenation of the identified case weights; and forming the Unicode weight as a concatenation w p +w a +w c of the primary Unicode weight, the accent Unicode weight, and the case Unicode weight.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the Unicode weights for the strings s p s p+1 . . . s n and t p t p+1 . . . t m are computed, the computation comprising: for each character, performing a lookup in a Unicode weight table to identify a respective primary weight, a respective accent weight, and a respective case-weight; forming a primary Unicode weight w p as a concatenation of the identified primary weights; forming an accent Unicode weight w a as a concatenation of the identified accent weights; forming a case Unicode weight w c as a concatenation of the identified case weights; and forming the Unicode weight as a concatenation w p +w a +w c of the primary Unicode weight, the accent Unicode weight, and the case Unicode weight. 7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the collation order is in accordance with a specified language, and the Unicode weight table is selected according to the specified language.