Canonicalization

I am confused with what I need to deal with regarding cononicalization
and wonder if anyone can help. 

I understand that inout can be represented in many different character
sets and therefore I need to convert it all to a standard set before
applying any rules to it but.

1. How do I know the initial format ?
2. I understodd the webserver and app server can do conversion of HTTP
streams. What does it convert and when does this happen in the data flow.
3. Don't languages like Java operate in Unicode so its done for you ?

Thanks



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