 J was introduced into English for the consonant in the 17th century (it had been rare as a vowel), but it was not universally considered a distinct letter in the alphabetic order until the 19th century.By the 1960s, it became apparent to the computer and telecommunications industries in the First World that a non-proprietary method of encoding characters was needed.The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) encapsulated the Latin alphabet in their (ISO/IEC 646) standard.