[fpc-devel] Unicode and UTF8String

[Marco van de Voort]

In our previous episode, Graeme Geldenhuys said:
> >> and it avoids unneeded conversions.
> >
> > I understand it 'avoids unneeded conversions' *inside* the RTL, by
> > adding implicit conversions to the code accessing the RTL.
> 
> This is exactly what I was thinking. The conversion is simply passed
> on to a different piece of code. So  the end result is the same - you
> still have conversion.

Not necesarily, since you might not use a different type. Or only use them
in a few rare cases where you must do character level access.

Or you might convert to UTF-32, because the char level access is
particularly difficult, or you want to be correct.

IOW, you give the programmer the choice about the type, instead of forcing
him an arbitrary one, based on your favorite platform.