[Python-Dev] Re: PEP 263 - Defining Python Source Code Encodings

[Guido van Rossum]

> If the PEP is implemented, IDLE will be able to honor the encoding
> declarations. As a side effect, this will allow you to edit UTF-8
> files in IDLE.

Who's gonna make the necessary changes to IDLE?

> Allowing arbitrary Unicode in identifiers is no challenge, either,
> except that __dict__ dictionaries may suddenly find Unicode as keys.
> I'm not sure what other implications this would have, so it definitely
> is a separate issue.

As long as the only use of 8-bit strings is to contain pure ASCII,
this shouldn't be a problem.

> Another issue with allowing Unicode is that a good definition of
> "letter" must be given (it clearly should not depend on the
> locale). The Unicode consortium gives guidelines, but those depend on
> the Unicode version.

I'd just use the isalpha() method of Unicode string objects.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)