[fpc-devel] Qt, Java and Unicode support

[Sergei Gorelkin]

Graeme Geldenhuys wrote:
> 
> Then for backward compatibility use UTF-8 as the only string type.
> That's what UTF-8 was designed for - backward compatibility.  That's
> also the reason LCL uses UTF-8.

You cannot use *only* utf-8, the existing ShortString, AnsiString and
Wide/UnicodeString types have to be maintained.

> Hence the reason I mentioned Qt. It uses the C compiler, which doesn't
> even have a String type. I think it will still be handy to look at the
> Qt toolkit, to see how they accomplished the unicode string issues.
> 
Well, it isn't C but C++ which allows to overload "everything but a 
kitchen sink". By overloading the assignment operators, you can e.g. 
make any class refcounted.
But it is easier to use C++ directly instead of trying to have all its 
features in FPC.
> 
> Well can't one make that a separate library for Free Pascal
> applications as well. If you don't need it, or just simply want ASCII
> upper/lower case support, you don't ship the conversion table dll/so
> file.
> 
That makes me wonder, too - why all these discussions are ultimately 
about putting everything into the compiler.

Regards,
Sergei