[Python-Dev] UTF-8 is no fun...

[Andy Robinson]

> > Things are hard to get right when you have to deal with
> > backward *and* forward compatibility, interoperability and
> > user-friendliness all at the same time... but we'll keep
> > trying ;-)
> 
> Let me say publically that I think you have done a fine job, and
> obviously have put lots of thought and effort into it.  If parts of
> the design turn out to be less than ideal (and subsequently changed
> before 1.6 is real) then this will not detract from your excellent
> work.
> 
> Well done!
> 
> [And also to Fredrik, whose code was the basis for the Unicode
> object itself - that was a nice piece of code too!]

> Mark

I've spent a fair bit of time converting strings and files the 
last few days, and I'd add that what we have now seems both rock solid
and very easy to use.  

The remaining issues are entirely a matter of us end users trying
to figure out what we should have asked for in the first place. Whether
we achieve that finally before 1.6 is our problem; Marc-Andr\u00C9 and 
Fredrik have done a great job, and I think we are on track for providing 
something much more useful and extensible than (say) Java.  As proof 
of this, someone has already contributed Japanese codecs based on the 
spec.

- Andy Robinson