Re: [boost] [general] What will string handling in C++ look like in the future [was Always treat ... ]

Subject: Re: [boost] [general] What will string handling in C++ look like in the future [was Always treat ... ]
From: Matus Chochlik (chochlik_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-01-19 10:13:04

>
> I do not believe that UTF-8 is the way to go. In fact I know it is not,
> except perhaps for the very near future for some programmers ( Linux
> advocates ).

:-) Just for the record, I'm not a Linux advocate any more then I'm
a Windows advocate. I use both .. I'm writing this on a windows machine.
What I would like is the whole encoding madness/dysfunction (including
but not limited to the dual TCHAR/whateverchar-based interfaces) to stop.
Everywhere.

>
> Inevitably a Unicode standard will be adapted where every character of every
> language will be represented by a single fixed length number of bits. Nobody
> will care any longer that this fixed length set of bits "wastes space", as
> so many people today hysterically are fixated on. Whether or not UTF-32 can
> do this now or not I do not know but this world where a character in some
> language on earth is represented by some arcane multi-byte encoding will
> end. If UTF-32 can not do it then UTF-nn inevitably will.

And then the HUGE codebase written in C/C++ that currently
uses char will be reimplemented using some utfNN_char_t.
Sorry but I don't see that happening.

Best,

Matus