Re: [boost] [General] Always treat std::strings as UTF-8

Subject: Re: [boost] [General] Always treat std::strings as UTF-8
From: Robert Ramey (ramey_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-01-18 14:53:14

>> struct utf8string : public std::string {
>> struct iterator {
>> const char * operator++(); // move to next code point,
>> utf8char operator*(); // return next utf8 char etc.
>> // ...
>> };
>> // maybe some other stuff - e.g. trap non-sensical operations
>> };
>>
>> and while you're at it
>>
>> struct ascii_string : public std::string {
>> std::local m_l; //
>> ascii_string & operator+=(char c) {
>> assert(c < 128);
>> }
>> // etc.
>> };
>>
>> struct jis_string : public std::string {
>> // etc.
>> };
>>
>> and while your at it, if you've got nothing else to do
>>
>> struct ebcdc_string : public std::string {
>> ascii_string & operator+=(char c) {
>> assert(c < 128);
>> }
>> // etc.
>> };
>>
>> Just a thought.
>
> That instead of the currently used 2 string classes
> you'll end up with N string classes. That thought
> is not very appealing to me.

I don't think that's a fair statement.  The above only has 4
and that's including EBCDIC.

Sorry, I don't get the "2" above.

In any case, one could state with Just utf8_string and
ansi_string (should be simple), put it into boost and see how
many people use it.  If it's truely an improvement, usage of
std:string would atrophy to the point of being irrelevent.  If
there are still reasons for using std::string directly, then it
wouldn't, but no harm would be done. This has all the upside
and none of the downside.

If this were made,