Subject: Re: Wide character implementation
From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.net>
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2002 23:22:39 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp,comp.lang.scheme
Message-ID: <3225568971513146@naggum.net>

* Sander Vesik <sander@haldjas.folklore.ee>
| They use either UTF8 or UTF16 - you cannot rely on whetvere size
| you pick to be suitably long forever, unicode is sort of inherently
| variable-length (characters even have too possible representations 
| in many cases, &auml; and similar 8-)

  Variable-length characters?  What the hell are you talking about?  UTF-8
  is a variable-length _encoding_ of characters that most certainly are
  intended to require a fixed number of bits.  That is, unless you think
  the digit 3 take up only 6 bits while the letter A takes up 7 bits and
  the symbol ± takes up 8.  Then you have variable-length characters.  Few
  people consider this a meaningful way of talking about variable length.

| Implement them as variable-length strings using say UTF-8. Also, saying
| that most characters will not be wide may well be a wrong assumptin 8-)

  Real programming languages work with real character objects, not just
  UTF-8-encoded strings in memory.

  Acquire clue, _then_ post, OK?

///
-- 
  In a fight against something, the fight has value, victory has none.
  In a fight for something, the fight is a loss, victory merely relief.