[Python-Dev] Divorcing str and unicode (no more implicit conversions).

[Bob Ippolito]

On Oct 23, 2005, at 6:06 PM, Guido van Rossum wrote:

> Folks, please focus on what Python 3000 should do.
>
> I'm thinking about making all character strings Unicode (possibly with
> different internal representations a la NSString in Apple's Objective
> C) and introduce a separate mutable bytes array data type. But I could
> use some validation or feedback on this idea from actual
> practitioners.
>
> I don't want to see proposals to mess with the str/unicode semantics
> in Python 2.x. Let' leave the Python 2.x str/unicode semantics alone
> until Python 3000 -- we don't need mutliple transitions. (Although we
> could add the mutable bytes array type sooner.)

+1, this is precisely what I'd like to see.

-bob