[Python-Dev] Re: [I18n-sig] Re: Unicode debate

[Paul Prescod]

Guido van Rossum wrote:
> 
> ...
>
> But not all 8-bit strings occurring in programs are Unicode.  Ask
> Moshe.

Where are we going? What's our long-range vision?

Three years from now where will we be? 

1. How will we handle characters? 
2. How will we handle bytes?
3. What will unadorned literal strings "do"?
4. Will literal strings be the same type as byte arrays?

I don't see how we can make decisions today without a vision for the
future. I think that this is the central point in our disagreement. Some
of us are aiming for as much compatibility with where we think we should
be going and others are aiming for as much compatibility as possible
with where we came from.

-- 
 Paul Prescod  - ISOGEN Consulting Engineer speaking for himself
It's difficult to extract sense from strings, but they're the only
communication coin we can count on. 
	- http://www.cs.yale.edu/~perlis-alan/quotes.html